JHK’s Three-Act Play
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The lost story-line amid the food-fights and boasting contests that the “debates” have turned into is the destruction being wreaked on the two major parties themselves. I don’t see how either the Republicans or Democrats get out of this thing alive. The primary season now upon us is the event horizon that sucks these two purposeless clubs into the bottomless hole of historical bad memories. Both parties have failed so fundamentally to represent or even apprehend the interests of the nation that they are now merely obstacles to any sort of plausible future, two infernal machines blocking the road, shaking themselves to death.
The Republican Party may be closer to outright blowup since the rank and file will never accept Donald Trump as their legitimate candidate, and Trump has nothing but contempt for the rank and file. If Trump manages to win enough primaries and collect a big mass of delegate votes, the July convention in Cleveland will be the site of a mass political suicide. The party brass, including governors, congressmen, senators and their donor cronies will find some device to deprive Trump of his prize, and the Trump groundlings will revolt against that move, and the whole nomination process will be turned over to the courts, and the result will be a broken organization. The Federal Election Commission may then have to appeal to Capital Hill to postpone the general election. The obvious further result will be a constitutional crisis. Political legitimacy is shattered. Enter, some Pentagon general on a white horse.
Parallel events could rock the Democratic side. I expect Hillary to exit the race one way or another before April. She comes off the shelf like a defective product that never should have made it through quality control. Nobody really likes her. Nobody trusts her. Nobody besides Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Huma Abedin believe that it’s her turn to run the country. Factions at the FBI who have had a good look at her old State Department emails want to see her indicted for using the office to gin up global grift for the Clinton Foundation. These FBI personnel may be setting up another constitutional crisis by forcing Attorney General Loretta Lynch either to begin proceedings against Clinton or resign. Rumors about her health (complications from a concussion suffered in a fall ) won’t go away. And finally, of course, Senator Bernie Sanders is embarrassing her badly at the polls.
The Democrats could feasibly end up having to nominate Bernie on a TKO, but in doing so would instantly render themselves a rump party peddling the “socialist” brand — about the worst product-placement imaginable, given our history and national mythos. In theory, the country might benefit from a partial dose of socialism such as single-payer Medicare-for-all — just to bust up the odious matrix of rackets that medicine has become — but mega-bureaucracy on the grand scale is past its sell-by date for an emergent post-centralized world that needs its regions to get more local and autonomous.
The last time the major political parties disintegrated, back in the 1850s, the nation had to go through a bloody convulsion to reconstitute itself. The festering issue of slavery so dominated politics that nothing else is remembered about the dynamics of the period. Today, the festering issue is corruption and racketeering, but none of the candidates uses those precise terms to describe what has happened to us, though Sanders inveighs against the banker class to some effect. Trump gets at it only obliquely by raging against the “incompetence” of the current leadership, but he expresses himself so poorly in half-finished sentences and quasi-thoughts that he seems to embody that same mental incapacity as the people he rails against. Corruption and racketeering go unobserved and unchallenged. Even the amazing effrontery of Ted Cruz failing to report his Goldman Sachs campaign contributions to the FEC (with his wife employed as a managing director of that company!) hardly made an impression on public opinion last week.
Political uncertainty has never been so dangerously high in this country since the election year of 1860. Even the Watergate years pale against today’s sick scene because for all of Richard Nixon’s turpitudes and evasions in the White House, the institutions of democracy elsewhere were sound and worked impressively well. The senate committee steadfastly and systematically uncovered the crimes of Nixon and his cohorts over two years of hearings, and the House judiciary committee chugged efficiently through the preparatory work of impeachment — and then, old Tricky Dick boarded his helicopter to San Clemente with a ragged smile and a wave.
Nobody knows where the shit show of 2016 is leading. The uncertainty around it is helping to sink what remains of the old economy, and one can easily discern a very dangerous set of feedbacks creeping into place.
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Glad to see you’re finally coming around, Jim–recognizing that
Bernie is not only the best candidate, but a likely winner of the WH.
I would say single payer doesn’t just theoretically benefit the country, but it will in practice as well.
Single payer sounds good, especially since the existing infrastructure of Medicare and Medicaid would be a great fit to facilitate single payer (see HR 676 bill in Congress).
Unfortunately, neither the Democrats nor the Republicans will let this happen due to big corporate interests controlling both parties.
Medicare-for-all is reasonable, but there has to be a “fast lane” for those who choose to get faster, more stylish health care, with all the bells and whistles… and who can pay for it themselves. You really don’t want to replicate the Canadian system of one-size-fits-all (with the option to go shopping south of the border).
FWIW i speak as a practising physician who relocated to New Zealand 15 years ago out of general disgust with America’s sickcare system, which is run (as far as I can tell) for the benefit of insurance companies, Big Pharma, and small numbers of high-end medical specialists.
@Williamwilliams –
I’m a New Zealander as well – as you’re aware, and for the benefits of other readers- our state-funded medical system, while great, is constantly short of money (for example, no DHB will even schedule you for a hernia repair – you’re on your own) because the rightist Government we currently suffer under is starving it.
So, while the state system is great for acute & life-threatening health issues, there is still the private medical & medical insurance option available for those who can afford it.
It seems you & JHK are both missing a key point in Sanders’ strategy. He can see the cock-blocking bullshit that the Congress & Senate have become due to vested interests in conflict.
Sanders is talking about a “political revolution” and if (or when) elected, he will seek to drive that same grass-roots fervour (for which Americans are famous around the world) to give a clear message to those bought-and-paid-for lobbied ‘representatives’ just what is expected of them – and it’s simple enough: put the best interests of the voters before those of the lobbyists.
I can also see, potentially, a much greater recognition and support for a growing number of candidates for Rep seats at this election – a coat-tail effect that could have a huge impact on the make-up of that ‘august body’. It may yet be that enough-really-is-enough for more people than you can imagine.
What a choice we have this year in the land of the free. There’s the kleptocrat Hillary “Sticky Fingers” Clinton against the unrepentant Bolshevik Sanders. Note to Bernie: the farm is bankrupt, and we ate the seed corn; we can’t give everything to everyone.
Then there’s Trump who looms over a field of Bohemian Grove approved GOP hand puppets. Unfortunately, he’s proclaimed his support for “security” over “freedom”. So the total surveillance, Orwellian, police state has nothing to fear from his regime. Neither does the perpetual warfare lobby need to worry.
“the unrepentant Bolshevik Sanders”
Nonsense like that just demonstrates for the world (at least the small world here) how little you know about politics outside the narrow model we have in the US: a single party with two right wings — not to mention how little you know about 20th century history.
Bernie’s form of socialism has nothing to do with communism. I like this definition of a socialist from the Urban Dictionary – “A human being who believes that the most harmonious state of affairs would be for all to get a fair shot at financial sucess. This belief is not motivated by his own selfishness as a capitalist would have you think, but is in actuality an honorable difference of opinion. In the 1930’s farmers in the mid west were plowing their corn under because it was unprofitable, and at the same time millions across America were starving. Capitalists see this as logical, while socialists find it abhorrent. In short, socialism is about production for use, not profit.
Everyone calls me a socialist because I think universal health care is more important than Ross Perot having 28 cars.”
A lot of people who aren’t socialists like the idea of government spending being concentrated on the things Americans need but can’t pay for by themselves. People forget that our government takes in and spends unfathomable amount of money every year. When Hillary tells an audience that a plan of Bernie’s won’t work without raising taxes, she’s right, but only if one concedes that every other bit of spending is of absolute necessity and more important to Americans that actually going to the hospital when they need to.
Anyway, Bernie is running as a Democrat. The way our system is supposed to work is just because someone gets elected who has different ideas doesn’t mean we all must go along. Although that’s how it’s been for quite some time now.
Oh wake up and smell the coffee, Helen! The destruction of agricultural produce in the 1930’s was a policy of FDR, a Democrat with socialist leanings. But in your mind capitalism is the awful boogeyman. Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, all the mass murderers of history were no doubt “capitalists” in your mind.
The ultimate selfishness is thinking you can use other people’s money to do acts of charity. Use your own!
I’m with you and Helen on this and a lot of other people would be as well but for the actuality. You see Government spending all of our money on other countries, basically using America as their own ATM for the purposes of Corporate graft. Or in some cases, actual obsession with helping people in other countries while America dies. What else can we expect from MARXIST Socialism – which has always been International and about the destruction of nations? That’s the legacy Sanders is part of. We need an American National Socialism that puts America and her traditions and people first.
Wow, that’s one stupid dictionary. How about “socialism is an economic system that offers every adult immortality and every child a pet unicorn”.
Socialism is a system in which all economic enterprise is run by the government. The Soviet Union is the most prominent example.
Socialism is a recipe for universal poverty and genocide. I must not like Bernie Sanders then, right? Au contraire. Because he’s not a genuine socialist. But his target demographic of uneducated youth think socialism is something cool, so he slaps himself with a label that appeals to them
I for one am a member of several Socialist organizations. The US Northern Plains are have many in the form of businesses owned by the customers. Each year these businesses distribute their profits back the their customers based on the volume of the business done that customer during that year.
One can also think of public services as socialist organizations owned by the tax payers. Roads, police, fire departments, prisons, all fall into this category in most areas of the country.
We can think of medical care as a public service rather than a socialist enterprise using the definition above then all is well.
When the socialist governments of Eastern Europe fell after the Berlin wall came down, the leaders who had long railed against bourgeois capitalism opened their garage doors to reveal new Mercedes and BMW sedans. The big problem with socialism in any form is that while everyone is equal, some are more equal than others. Spend some time with Menger, Hayek and Von Mises of the Austrian School and you’ll be convinced without doubt–socialism is the Road to Serfdom.
This time we don’t need more political slogans, we need a wrecking ball, a hydrogen bomb. Trump can do that.
Funny how no one chided me for calling Hillary a thief. In any case you Doug must be psychic to know how little I know about everything. Either that or very arrogant and presumptuous.
Cling to your leftist economic paradigms if you like, Doug. A large part of the world has tried and dumped those Marxist principles. Just as it’s now time to dump our current utterly corrupt and lawless system of “crony capitalism” (which in no way is true capitalism). Kunstler himself once said that disagreeing with the laws of capitalism is like disagreeing with the laws of physics. You may hate them, but that’s how reality operates.
“Doug must be psychic to know how little I know about everything.”
I didn’t say “anything” — for all I know, you could be an expert plumber, a very important skill in the coming world, if you are young enough to take advantage of it.
And it took no psychic ability to assess how little you know about the world’s political spectrum: you demonstrated that beyond doubt with a few words describing Sanders as a Bolshevik.
That analogy doesn’t hold water. The laws of physics are based on scientific principles. Capitalism is not a bedfellow of say the laws of thermodynamics. It is a human construct and a far from perfect one at that
” Kunstler himself once said that disagreeing with the laws of capitalism is like disagreeing with the laws of physics. You may hate them, but that’s how reality operates.”
If Jim said that he was totally wrong.
Capitalism, like economics in general, has no laws other than those the practitioners agree to follow.
Neither is a science; both are cloaks for politics.
You can change the rules of economics and its subset, capitalism, as you wish, the the laws of thermodynamics are beyond our control.
= = = = =
The Laws of Thermodynamics, as summarized by C.P.Snow (zeroeth added posthumously):
0. This is the Game: you’re here, you are part of the system
1. You Can’t Win: you can’t get more energy out of the system than you put into it.
2. You Can’t Break Even: any transfer of energy will result in some waste of energy unless a temperature of absolute zero can be achieved.
3. You Can’t Get Out of the Game: you cannot achieve absolute zero.
the laws of physics are based on scientific principles. Ohh Alphie… that’s a howler.
Bernie doesn’t plan to give everything to everyone.
He has clearly stated he plans to raise taxes on the uber-rich
and create a financial transaction tax on Wall St.
This money will make single payer and free tuition possible.
chipshot – I you really believe that will be enough money to fund these schemes you’re living in la-la land.
If we were to break the back of the Higher Ed racket, which we need to do, tuition would not be as astronomical as it is now. I don’t know that we need it to be free, but that would only work if we limit it to the best students, and I don’t see that happening in America.
Maybe. Pretty sure health care will collapse and many people will end up broke if major changes aren’t made, though.
Don’t know of any system besides single-payer that has a chance of preventing such collapse and widespread insolvency (due to health care expenses). Certainly the ACA won’t, given enough time.
If you know of a solution, please enlighten me (and save me from la-la land)…
As long as we can keep borrowing at the lowest interest rates in recorded history and print money when needed we can keep this fiasco going.We must be exceptional and have God on our side because this has always led to economic disaster in the past. I guess it’s ” different this time”.
Who is going to back this initiative? Write the bill? Get to approved, whip the votes? Clueless… the whole lot of Sanders fans.
The large number of voters who will put Bernie in the WH, will also create the political revolution he correctly says we desperately need.
In other words, public pressure will force congress to write the bill and approve it.
Go pack that dorm room bong again and take another deep hit brah.
Single payer has merit but I think Sanders Islam ting an overly rosy picture of it. Countries with single payer are able to hold down health care cost not primarily by cutting out private profits, which are a small fraction of health care costs. No, they achieve affordability by rationing services and imposing severe wage and price controls on health care providers. The rationing to me is a good argument for single payer. People are going to be a lot more accepting if the government says you can’t have a particular operation because it is too expensive than if a private company tells you that.
It is unfortunate that someone else has to tell us that others can’t afford [ or do not owe for ] our bills.
We are seed corn ha! Most of us are weeds and some of us poisonous.
Finally Kunstler is forced to grant some recognition to Bernie Sanders. One would think with all Kunstler’s inveighing against the banksters and fraud and Bernie’s successful alliance with Ron Paul for the first in history Fed audit of any kind would be sufficient to get his endorsement. Let alone Bernie’s proposals to break up the too-big-to-fail banks, and reinstate a 21st Century Glass-Steagall act.
As to Bernie’s “socialism”- kneejerk responses against “socialism” are gone like kneejerk responses against gay rights. Occupy Wall Street showed genuine revulsion against Capitalism and Socialism is not an evil term for the Millenials who were not born after the Berlin Wall fell.
It is not clear that “bureaucracy” or large scale organization will be going away soon so long as the Internet survives. Open source software like Linux, ffpmg and many other projects have shown the feasibility of global distributed organization over the Internet. Not the old come to the office bureaucracy. Social Security successfully covers every American with an overhead cost of less than 1% compared to the bankster’s finagling of 7%. That is because Social Security is comparatively simple. It is the banksters, the skimmers, the for profit healthcare deniers who want things complicated so they can profit off it. Then they hire a huge bureaucracy of claims processors and healthcare deniers to keep from paying for healthcare so their CEOs can gain bonanzas like the $100 Million for the CEO in the Aetna US Healthcare merger years ago.
And there is more than the old Stalinist State socialist model which is distributed and still based on the market. I.e. cooperatives like the amazingly successful Mondragon cooperative in Spain, the farmers cooperatives in the Midwest, the cooperative bakery in San Francisco, the very successful Cleveland laundering cooperative.
And Bernie has already proposed promoting these:
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/08/18/bernie-sanders-proposes-boost-worker-ownership-companies
As has been pointed out for 100 years on the Left – we already have “Socialism” in terms of government support for Corporations and plutocrats like the legendary sports stadiums built by taxpayers for plutocratic owners. Who then move their teams from cities at a whim anyway. Or we can have the enormously successful example of the Green Bay Packers owned by the people who live there in a distributed fashion. Who will never move because the people own them not some plutocratic dictator.
Why should our people’s taxes go to line plutocrats pockets instead of cooperatives of workers?
And why should company profits go to shareholders, most of whom are part of the .1%, instead of the workers who created them (the company profits) ?
Wouldn’t you love to see President Sanders appoint Richard Wolff as some kind of economic advisor?
Are you being serious or did you really not understand what was written? He didn’t even suggest that Sanders was the best candidate. Read that section of the article again.
Are you being serious or did you really not understand what orbit7er wrote? He didn’t even suggest that JHK suggested that Sanders was the best candidate. Read his post again (or at least the 1st sentence).
I am responding to your comment about Kunstler himself, not orbit7er’s comment about Kunstler. You were responding to the former. Maybe you intended to respond to orbit7er but mistakenly named Kunstler. In any case, you demonstrate all too clearly Jim’s ongoing anguish about Americans’ inability to fashion a coherent argument or thought!
Its kind of hard to reply on an Ipad so I can only reply using someone elses comment since I can not find a fresh reply button: Concerning Trump, he is playing a shrewd game, do not expect him to go deep on any subject and then wind up alienating his followers. He is smart enough in business to make billions, so he at least has a firm grasp of the human psyche unlike any of the other lifelong politicians. Love him or hate him, he is the best candidate out there. As for Bernie, everything will be free and I will be damned if I have to pay for my neighbors kids college education, let alone all of the other giveaways at the middle class expenses… Jim: please make it easier to reply on an ipad by making it easy to locate the damn button.. Whoever set this up for you, please fire them.
It is true the mental lack of understanding what words mean , syas “socialism ” is a ad work. But the truth is ,as you well know, we have been a socialit country sicne the founding fathers. One of the first was the cattle industry, to see that we ate beef with a subsidy. Roads, etc were obvious to all as socialism.
Bernie will be difficult to smear with that old siboleth.
The USA has always been about socialism for the wealthy, powerful and well-connected; and dog-eat-dog Capitalism for everyone else.
@Tired:
Yup.
Lately it looks like we are working on a return to the feudal system or something.
It’s not socialism or pure capitalism. It is state capitalism, another word for Fascism.
Exactly what’s need. The Government controls the Corporations and not vice versa as now. We live in a Plutocracy and Fascism is the cure. The political and economic spheres can’t be separated – one must dominate. The Communists want the Political to dominate as well – but they were secretly funded by International Banking. And Capitalism and Communism united to destroy Fascism. Basically, Communism is a conspiracy by the Economic sphere to destroy Traditional Cultures and the Democratic Republics.
Capitalism and Communism are economic philosophies. Fascism is a Philosophy of Man. And the economy of Fascism is National Socialism, in which Capitalism plays a healthy part.
fascism, capitalism, racism…I don’t trust any of the ‘ism’s. Now I can add another one…janosism
You’re just a little nut. Maybe a big squirrel will do the world a favor and eat you.
You’ve been Janosed!
That’s your response Janos? I’m a little nut? I mean if you’re going to go for laughs(albeit at my expense) make it clever. It should have a surprise ending. Here, I’ll give you an example:
Two cannibals are sitting around a bubbling pot. As one stirs the pot the other says, “ya know, I can’t stand my mother-in-law”. To which the one stirring replies, “so just eat the noodles”
True to your prediction a decade ago, here comes our flirtation with fascism in The Donald, making his entrance right on cue. What has happened to the red team is similar to the situation of the second largest share holder of News Corp, ie the Saudi Royals, in order to preserve their status they have unleashed the most toxic elements of their followers and now the monster is out of the bag and turning its sights on its masters. Do you think the gun otters in eastern Oregon vote red or blue?
I guess unleashing a weapon of mass distraction on their supposed best friend is one way the Saudi royal family can direct attention away from their problems. While people, including our host, are gaping at the train wreck of our major political parties, we’re going through a perverse kind of oil shock, as oil fell to 12-year lows, dragging stocks down with it. I thought low oil prices would be good for the U.S. economy. Apparently, not this low, at least according to the investors! We can’t have oil prices this low without a recession somewhere, can we? Add that to the stock market being ready to head back down (DJIA in the 8,000s by the end of 2018, anyone?) and it’s time for another bear market, which will bring a recession here just by making the 1% spend less. That includes our frenemies the Saudis, who realize they just might lose their game of chicken with us, the Russians, and the Iranians.
One Gulf oil state has already cut one of its projects in the U.S. as Al Jazeera America is shutting down as its oil subsidy dries up. Of course, it didn’t help that too few Americans will watch a station that’s too foreign. BBC America, sure. Al Jazeera? Sorry.
Exactly. A rich Hitler. Substitute Germany for America in all his speeches. Substitute Muslim for Jews in all his speeches. Put a funny moustache on him and Sieg Heil away we go.
“Enter, some Pentagon general on a white horse.”
I don’t think so – not this time. I see no one on the horizon with the skill and audacity of a Napoleon, Stalin or even a Mussolini. Yes, the chaos will be widespread and the nation ripe for authoritarianism. But the Pentagon manufactures sheep in fancy uniforms. I don’t see much real leadership coming from that source.
In fact, Napoleon B came out of nowhere at a time when the political leadership of the Revolution was utterly exhausted. He was a 26-year-old artillery officer brought into Paris to tamp down the mob with “a whiff of grapeshot.” Soon, he demonstrated that he was the only competent organizer on the scene. It’s an amazing story.
The conventions are way too choreographed for anyone that isn’t mainstream to get nominated. Trump will probably not have enough delegates to win a majority on the first vote. Within one or perhaps two votes after that a mainstream candidate, most likely Jeb Bush, will get the nomination. As for the Democrats, it looks as though Sen. Sanders could be the nominee but the party elites and the super PACs will probably succeed in something that will ensure a Hillary coronation.
A messy revolution before the conventions? Maybe if the global house-of-cards economy substantially collapses before summer. A general on a white horse to take the helm? Not likely. And if that were to happen a North American version of the Peninsula Wars would soon follow.
True, but Napoleon was an outsider – from Corsica – more Italian than French. If you look at the successful revolutionaries, they are mostly outsiders – from Moses (Egyptian) Washington (British military) Marx (German) Hitler (Austrian). The list goes on.
It seems that it takes an outsider on the inside (an awkward turn of phrase, but indulge me) to have enough of a perspective on a chaotic situation to actualize the potential therein..
I don’t think the Pentagon will provide such a person.
This is or was a ‘Peak Oil’ site.
I want to know how long the cheap oil will last.
And how long will any oil last.
Thanks.
Seems like gas is cheap, but an increasing amount of folks are too poor to buy and maintain cars, and afford insurance.
The real economy is in convulsive death throes, and if it ever tries to recover, oil prices will soar, repeating the cycle.
BIG.GOV stepped into the unfree markets again 2 days ago saying oil companies are too big to fail, so no forced bankruptcies for them.
The shitstorm is chaos defined, so anyone trying to predicting the future is a fool at this point. It’s all downhill, with lots of bumps and crashes, that is the only certainty.
I don’t think there is anybody on this planet who can give you an accurate answer to those two questions.
In theory all this cheap oil should lead to deflation. Why is this not happening?
That is how the Jesuits would like us to think. No world leader comes out of nowhere. Maybe in Africa, but the CIA and MI6 take care of that.
“Shit Show” is right Jim.
The U.S.ofC.A. United States of Corrupt America) needs a political, social, economic and cultural enema commensurate with the current state of affairs. Holy Shit, it is going to be a whopper I’m afraid.
Parallels with 1860 would be fine if it were just the American War Between The States redux with some outside intervention from the European powers.
However he European powers are defunct and under Yzlamik invasion themselves; CHina and Japan are in full meltdown mode figuratively and literally, with the North Koreans claiming the H-bomb; Africa has more Ebola on the way and Yzlamik JeeHad too; the Yzlamik world can’t get around the facts of their religion and population overshoot; South America is one bad economic downturn away from asking for those same defunct European powers to come back and recolonize them to provide stability.
Nope the high colonic is going to be global in the worst sense, 21st Century style. No KY either. GULP.
South America is one bad economic downturn away from… – Peq
============
I wonder about the impact of Brazil utterly failing to pull off the Olympics 6 months from now. They are sooooooo fucked up.
Opinion from Fodase would be welcomed.
There was an article in a recent issue of Vanity Fair, claiming Brazil uses slave labor.
So do we, right here in the good ol’ USA. And in the Midddle Kingdom, and in the Gulag, and in Yzlamik countries, and sub-Saharran Africa, and in Latin America………….it’s a good long list.
Brazil just will be under the microscope because of the Olympics and the Carioca’s bathing attire.
I caught part of a report on TV today that talked about mosquitos in Brazil that are carrying disease and making many people sick, and even leading to death. I can see many Olympic athletes deciding that it is not worth their health or life to go. These coming Olympics will be a disaster.
One thing I’d like to add, whoever is sworn in, be it Trump, Hillary or Bernie, they will have to deal with the collapse of the global banking system and the deflationary period we are entering.
I’m not sure Sanders is up to the task, but I’m certain that Hillary, Trump and the rest of the Republican clown car aren’t up to it (read they’d handle it about as well as Hover did).
I think that Trump, despite his tendency to mouth off, in practice is smart enough to get some knowledgeable people and listen to them.
It isn’t that I support Trump so much as it’s that prior to his entry in the race, we were facing a non-choice coin toss. If Donald Trump destroys the system, good.
I’m grateful to both him and Bernie for stepping up.
Well said. He is far from perfect, but also far from dumb, despite his crudity. Mr Kunstler is underestimating him massively, both in terms of is personal character and his chances of winning. He’s not taking on the Fed – that would get him assassinated. He’s just asking that the Corporations be made to play ball with America. It’s a very moderate message all things considered. It only seems radical because the Elite have pushed America to the edge, making crisis the new normal. Now the real and healthy Normal seems like a crisis. It is – to the really bad people.
Trump is by far best qualified to manage a bankruptcy of central goobermint.
I fail to understand how anyone with even just enough brainpower to keep their lungs moving in and out can find any solace at all in this latest pathetic sham of what they call a government of the people, by the people, for the people. Every single time another one of these rich assholes steps up to a microphone and lies his ass off about how much he/she really cares about the poor disheveled working idiots, they lap it up like hungry dogs. How’s that Hope and Change working out for you America, eh? You may still cling to a Fool’s Hope, but aside from the change to the worse, the change in your pocket remains all that is left of that boldfaced lie. Which lie will you center yourselves on this time I wonder? How will you deal with the resulting depression that what is sure to happen once again after you are duped into apathy? The corruption is not only too widespread and costly to go on much longer, it is also legal, at least for them and so will never be gotten rid of. I have an idea, perhaps we should take the “In God We Trust” off of the worthless Yellen Dollars and replace it with, “Shut Up and Pay”! Yes, there’s some change for you.
Sometimes I wonder why anyone comments on Mr. K’s Monday blog post, since he says it all so well. It isn’t even like icing on the cake, since the whole cake is already presented. But, I like to give him encouragement.
Yes, single payer health care might be a better system in the short run, but remember what he said; the massive bureaucracy would render it null and void. But it might be worth it to see the downfall of big insurance, big pharma and big medicine.
I’m sure Jim appreciates your encouragement but would also like a donation via Patreon to support the site. Folks like Charles Hugh Smith have appealed for support from the git go.
Can we as frequent commenters get a little piece of the action? I would not complain if somebody threw me a bone every month.
If you’re looking to get boned find another website please.
You look pretty well fed, you old dog (haha)! You don’t need a bone because ol’ Jim throws us all some red meat every Monday morning. And don’t we love it.
Yes, we usually get something juicy we can masticate, this is true.
Hey, no mastication in here, this is a family blog!
If I could donate with PayPal I would. Why do I have to sign up for a whole different payment system?
Agreed, Helen. I also like donating thru PayPal and have several monthly donations going. I’m not very good at computers, so when I encountered problems in trying to enroll, I gave up.
Helen,
You can use Paypal for the donation…I did this AM.
A good and valid point and while it is certainly not necessary that we do comment, it does remain an honest way to bind ourselves to the sentiment and be a small part of the movement. As the tree falling in the forest with no one to hear it might add, it’s just our way of saying that we hear and we are here and appreciate our host’s labors. Thanks JHK!
I’m no fan of single-payer, but we are still waiting for “comprehensive health care reform”, and what we have right now is hurting more people than it helps, from what I can see. You never, ever reduce spending by paying an intermediary, no matter what lies someone puts out on a chart.
I heard from TWO people that think Obamacare is great. One never actually got around to buying insurance, and her husband had a very expensive accident, the other thinks it’s great because his partner’s premiums went down. I think he’s in for a rude awakening when the “cadillac tax” kicks in. More and more I hear from people who have no insurance at all now and also face seizure of their tax returns.
We seem to be working on building big pharma into TBTF status.
Medicine/Healthcare for profit is more of an abomination than flesh for profit.
Excellent well thought out post Jim!
This might sound contradictory but there are two ways to fix the medical system in this country. One would be to remove all the constraints and make it a true free market system subject to the Clayton and Sherman Acts, and the other is to ditch it and change to a system like our socialist/communist neighbors to the north with a single payor. Neither will happen and we will continue to pay 20% of our GDP for healthcare ranked 11th among developed nations. Even if Bernie is elected President (entirely possible given the current landscape) he won’t be able to get anything done. Republicans (especially Tea Party Republicans) will walk out of his SOU address.
But I don’t think either party will blow up. They didn’t blow up in the 1850s. They simply changed much like the Republican Party changed in 2008. The process won’t be stopped by the courts because the courts are loath to be seen as part and parcel of a constitutional crisis. What will happen is they will end up with a compromise candidate (most likely Rubio or Bush) and Trump will run as an independent. He might sue but the courts are not going to interfere with something as integral to our political process as the organization of political parties and the nominating rules.
If Clinton is indicted then Bernie gets the nomination and a moderate Republican wins. But Bernie wins against Trump. And that will be the constitutional crisis because western and southern states will not accept the Presidency of a NE liberal. Some of those states will just resist any further intrusion by the federal government. I foresee some sort of armed conflict in the future – and not just by Bundyites.
But back to Clinton for a minute. How would it work for a DOJ run by someone handpicked by Obama who clearly supports Clinton to indict her? The FBI cannot force the DOJ to do so and I don’t see it happening unless Ms. Lynch has to resign due to health reasons. If the DOJ won’t indict anyone for crimes arising out of the 2008 almost depression out of fear of a banking crisis why would they indict someone who could easily be the next President? Talk about a crisis. It could happen, but I think it unlikely.
So here’s what I think will happen. Clinton will run against Rubio or Bush and probably win. Trump runs as a 3rd party (notwithstanding his agreement not to – an agreement the courts will not enforce) and siphons away Republican support and Clinton wins. The FBI investigation and findings are deep-sixed.
Interesting scenario but how about this one: Clinton is tainted meat but wins the party nomination, Bernie runs as independent, Mitt Romney is drafted at the convention and Rubio runs as his VP?
My family settled in Vermont before the F & I war. I’ve known Bernie as Mayor, Congressman, and Senator ever since he beat Gordon Paquette and his machine in 1981. I guarantee to you that Bernie will NOT run as an Independent.
Why do you think large numbers of VTers, many of whom don’t happen to be left wing, in fact many of whom are anything but, vote for Bernie over and over by huve, even overwhelming, numbers? Because while they may not always agree with him, they know that he means and stands for exactly what he says, with integrity and consistency, and he has stated that he will NOT run if he is not nominated as a Democrat. Believe it.
Maybe this is the reason Clinton so handily kissed up to Obama in last nights debate?
Making nice so he and Lynch won’t “do the right thing”?
But my understanding is that right now there are enough FBI insiders who see the writing on the wall and realize there SHOULD be indictments against Clinton. If there are not then I will not be surprised to see these agents “leaking” information to the NY Times etc.
On another note, I like the way Iceland rolls:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt4Z3rm4r-4
“. . . FBI insiders who see the writing on the wall and realize there SHOULD be indictments against Clinton.”
Don’t be too hopeful. U.S. Attorneys decide whom to indict, or not, and they serve at the pleasure of the president.
Doug – In my home state of PA, the Attorney General runs separately from the governor, so it is an independent office that has not been afraid to investigate the executive. The way the Feds do it is a built-in conflict of interest.
You’re right. But . . .
1. It’s hard to see any state Attorney General (other than, perhaps — by a long stretch of the imagination Schneiderman in NY) bringing charges against $hillary; and
2. Look at the ungodly mess surrounding Kathleen Kane, as a result of the way these things work in your Commonwealth.
Yes and she’s the hand picked replacement for Holder – the most corrupt Attorney General in American history.
In a commercial prior to the debate, they ran a voice over of Hillary saying something like “we have to fix this economy”, yet lately she keeps saying we should be grateful to Obama for the great economy. I wonder if anyone noticed that discrepancy?
Great observation Beryl.
It is classically known as “speaking out of both sides of the mouth” and “speaking with a forked tongue.”
Hillary Clinton, with her impressive C.V. of gubmint employment, and private fundraising, has certainly mastered this invaluable, indeed essential discursive skill.
Another political parasite who has employed this communications modality is presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz. Problem is he also just got caught and stomped on his own wee-wee in the process.
Here is a staunch TEA Party candidate, against big bailouts of Wall Street among other “conservative” causes, who “forgot” about his $1.5 million loans from CITI BAnk and his wife’s employer. Oh, and his wife is an appendage of the infamous “Vampire Squid” that is to say Goldman Sachs (Sacks of Gold! man.) What a scumbag!
Reminds me of a joke about two cannibals going out for lunch…..
Heres my prediction. Hilary and the Republican are coronated. Sanders and Trump mount third party campagins. The rest of the contest is mainstream tried and true Rep/Dem duopoly dirty tricks to bar the upstarts.
A good old fashioned clusterfuck contest electrifies America with a true four way shootout….
If you think Canada is socialist/communist, you are very confused. But we do have a good health care system.
Right you are Helen… or at least better than south of the border, in many respects. My brother and his family live in the US, and it breaks my heart to see how much stress and heartache and sacrifice they undergo every time they have to take one of their kids to the doctor… never mind the regular surgeries that one of their kids has to undergo to correct a bad back.
The system here is FAR from perfect, but there’s just no way I could stand to navigate the morass of HMO networks, insurance companies, etc. that one must confront for similar care in the US.
That doesn’t strike me as communist, but that’s just me.
what, is it too hard to understand Trump’s platform?
enforce the law
enforce the borders
enforce fair trade
simplify tax code
is that too nuanced?
pretty simple
Those ideas are sound, but Trump is temperamentally incapable of administering them (or running the Executive Branch).
I am very glad to see that the American people generally seem to be of different opinion.
No they aren’t. No legitimate poll puts Trump (originally Drumpf) at over ~30% of the general electorate.
If Emperor Obama can play Oligarch Puppet, and George Bush the Village Idiot could do it too, then Trump could pull it off without a problem.
It is said that the best form of government is a benign dictator. Maybe we get lucky and Trump goes that route.
I think Trump the candidate and Trump the executive are different enough. At least I hope so.
Trump’s other “nuanced” utterances include making lists of citizens due to their suspect religion, unilaterally acting without congress and generally talking like a tinpot dictator. As much as his passionate fans may wish it… Trump doesn’t stand a chance with most of the US voters.
You hurt your argument by distorting what Trump advocates.
Basically he said let’s slow down taking in the flow of Muslims until we figure out what’s going on.
More than one European country probably wishes they’d done just that.
I personally don’t have a great fondness for inviting anyone into our culture who adhere to superstitious beliefs such that there exist deities who rule over our fate. That includes especially christians, mormons, and scientologists. We need more atheists in this country if anything.
But in any case if there is a particular demographic that has within it your worst enemies, prudence seems to dictate you sift that demographic very carefully before opening your gates to them. You can be sure that during the height of the cold war the US was careful about admitting Russians and East Germans.
Eh … let’s kick out everyone then. Deists, theists and atheists have to learn to live together. Religion, or the lack of it, is not a reason to exclude or include anyone.
As an aside, I’m happy to read that Pope Francis I has said that all the worlds major religions are the path to the same God. Atrocities have been committed by atheists too.
The atrocities committed by whoever are invariably committed against others who are trying to impose their will on them.
Why do you change the subject? Who brought up kicking anyone out? This is about whether or not to examine wooden horses inside or outside the gates.
Wait a minute: Effort to adhere to principles of scientific process is not a religion. By contrast though, arguing for denial of empirical evidence on basis of belief in mysticism is anti-intellectual and a clear threat to any prospect of survival by even a tiny fraction of today’s population. Admitting any population clinging to ‘faith’ clearly disadvantages our nation — especially those who’s faith advocates childbirth until the woman’s uterus collapses. Let’s drop this ‘diversity’ bullshit that is itself anti-intellectual for refusal to accept that significant and contentious distinctions exist between cultures with some better suited for survival than others.
Here’s an idea, kick me out. I would be glad to go where I’m not marginalized and ignored.
With fifty “states” we could designate one for ever religion, denomination, or non-religion. Those that consider themselves non-religious would have to further divide themselves into political systems to get away from those they didn’t want to support, or who’s paradigm they considered unworkable.
People could go live among those who believe [ by-live ] as they do. You would expect that only the belief system designated for that “state” would be voted into public office.
Then stand back and watch. Almost immediately some will protest that what a person believes doesn’t matter.
@fodase,
I agree.
As I sit here totally snowed in I have time to think about what will happen in the upcoming election and two points keep popping into my thoughts. They are:
–People who have voted Dem their whole lives have told me they are voting for Trump no matter what. They want a grown-up who doesn’t talk PC BS. Which leads to the second point which is….
–This feels exactly like 1980 when the “experts” said Reagan was a cowboy and couldn’t win. Guess what, he did win and my life was instantly better.
I think Trump is going to beat Cruz in Iowa and beat the crap out of Biden or Clinton in the fall.
djc
djc, FWIW, I spoke to a young(ish) woman who lives in an inner-city, high crime neighborhood, a black woman, and she told me she kind of likes Trump.
Just goes to show idiocy and ignorance know no bounds of age, gender, or race. Equal opportunity stupidity!
and proof that Mencken’s booboisie is alive and well.
Yesterday my wife asked Oksana (not her real name), our Ukrainian cleaning lady, what she thought of Trump.
Oksana said, “he veddy rich……….and veddy smaht.”
djc – Why is Hillary suddenly defending Obama’s policies? And why did Biden say that he regrets every day not running? Is the fix in for Hillary to drop out for “health” reasons, when the actual reason will be in exchange for the criminal investigation against her disappearing? It is not too late for Biden to jump in and save his establishment party from Bernie.
It seems like everyone I talk to in Boise, ID would vote for Donald Trump if the election was held today. They all understand that what Obama said to get elected was a pack of lies, and the same would probably hold for Trump.
Even though Trump is not well spoken, that doesn’t seem to matter, since Obama is very well spoken, but a complete puppet of the criminal elite. We who support Trump seem to do it mainly for the entertainment value, knowing full well that a second American revolution is probably the only thing that will change our country in any meaningful way, and likely for the worse.
One thing’s for certain, out of all the other candidates Trump is the one who would step on the accelerator to drive this bus off the cliff at top speed.
There’s still an accelerator left in the wreckage speeding for the cliff??
Good point. But perhaps he would find a more direct path. Although, I think getting this whole crash rolling is what’s needed for any chance of coming out the other end with some sense of human decency.
Hillary would play the whole kick the can, status quo game to keep the slide as slow as possible. Bernie has good intentions, but I would argue he’s as caught into the whole ‘endless growth’ and technology will save us fantasies as most ‘Murcans.
Meanwhile, most of the rest of the Repub clown car would try for a hard right turn leading to a multiple roll over crash spilling people and trash all over hell and back, or direct to an even closer cliff not visible at this point.
Regardless of how it plays out, interesting times lie dead ahead.
Long parachutes, …for when the hurtling, flaming, disintegrating, wreckage coined “the new, strong economy” by Obama finally does its Wile E Coyote style drop into the void.
Many realize that, but don’t care, as long as he takes PCism with him.
Trump is on record for having opposed Bush’s illegal war on Iraq in 2003-2004 , and the TRILLION$ of dollars and millions of lives that are still being wasted by that monumental blunder. So for all the idiotic he’ll ” drive the bus over the cliff comments”, how about looking at what he ACTUALLY says and has done in the past.
If you are afraid of the possibility of World War III, then who is least likely to set it off? Well, WWIII would boil down to the USA v Russia and would go nuclear. Since Trump and President Putin seem admire each other, and since Trump has taken Putin’s positions on Syria and Ukraine, who is the peace candidate today?
If that’s where we are going then the sooner the better. Better while you are still able to run then have it be when you can only hobble.
Trump may well be a master showman. Presently he is catering to his audience because he knows what it takes to weave his way through the mild to insanely wild crazies of the tea bagger party. I suspect a lot of people will be astonished at how much savvy and moderation begins to exude from him if he reaches the point where his goal becomes to win over the broad electorate.
I’m a Bernie fan but Trump winning the repub nomination is the least bad of all the other repub possibilities. If for no other reason than it will be the most entertainment. Cruz is a horror.
I’m surprised at the number of people who consider themselves “true conservatives”, who don’t back any ‘establishment’ candidates, but somehow they fall for the Ted Cruz Brilliant Constitutionalist schtick.
The ‘news’ of the irregularities with that loan from Goldman Sachs was actually a coverup, in that they mention that Heidi Cruz “worked for Goldman Sachs at the time”.
Yeah, then, since 2005, and now. Goldman Sachs. It seems that 2008 has been forgotten.
Ted rode into office as the identity politician who didn’t favor amnesty, except that he did, sometimes.
Beryl – The current dustup over Cruz’s eligibility, because he was born in Canada, is beyond delicious. The “birthers,” encouraged by Trump, would not give up on their claim that Obama was born in Kenya and, therefore, not eligible for the presidency. But, what Cruz and Obama had in common at birth was US citizen mothers, and non-citizen fathers. So, if Cruz is Constitutionally eligible, then it would not have mattered a lick if Obama was born in Hawaii or outside of the US. Trump would have been a hypocrite (and a racist) if he had ignored his prior stance and given Cruz a pass. Question: Where are all the “birthers” now? Oh, the irony!!
Cruz should have withdrawn, admitting he was ineligible. This would have exposed Obama, and all his executive orders would have to be trashed.
But they all know: you do not have to be an American citizen to be the head of a corporation. The organic government of the united states of America has been replaced. The courts take silent notice that anyone claiming constitutional rights is deluded and are under equity [ contract ].
Most people I know have come to the same conclusion: Trump is the last chance for America as we know it – a White Western Nation. He may be a gigantic fraud and the fix may be in. No matter simply because we lose nothing. The others aren’t even promising to preserve America. We can only be the gainers – even if he only tries to do half of what he promised and only gets thru half of that.
Sun Tzu said, be careful about giving an enemy no chance to escape. Those who have nothing to lose often fight ferociously and attain victory. Our Backs are against the wall now.
yes Janos I can see you fighting ferociously but in more of a Custer’s Last Stand sort of way. This country was briefly overrun by whites. What made you think it was going to stay that way?
Whites founded America the Nation. Without us, it doesn’t exist. If we go, it goes – or becomes something else entirely. You think that will be great, right? You’re wrong. It wont be, not for you.
isn’t that always what happens to empires? They all eventually become ‘something else entirely’. Nations are simply artificial political boundaries, prone to dissolution. Time will tell what America the Nation becomes Janos. I hope, if we’re around, we can both be happy and healthy
Now you are conflating nations and empires. The nation is natural and can exist for thousands of years, like Japan, China or ancient Egypt. Empires, being extremely diverse, don’t last too long. Get it? Homogeneity is strength and Diversity is weakness. The exact opposite of what the media and academia preach. Imagine that.
Another distinction: regime or dynasty vs the nation itself. The nation can survive a regime change. The nation is an organic collective, and is far more than any regime. Read some Japanese or Chinese history: one dynasty falls and another rises, usually within a century or so. In contrast, when America falls, it falls for good. Far too diverse. One of the White areas may continue the real America. The real America is a White Western Christian Culture.
You don’t think the U.S. acts like an empire?
And as far as the whole homogeneity thing….hitler tried that. It didn’t work.
Life on earth is one big experiment and there are way too many variables to predict an outcome
….don’t worry, be happy
America will survive the United States.
The real America is a White Western Christian Culture-Janos
question Janos: was Christ white?
Two quotes by Gore Vidal:
“It makes no difference whom you vote for — the two parties are really one party representing four percent of the people.”
“Half of the American people never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half.”
He was obviously high on his four percent but that was then and this is now. He was also wrong about the percentage reading newspapers because less than half now read a newspaper or anything else. Perhaps a third could even find one if asked.
The precedent for Trump was Ronald Reagan and since the planet maintained its orbit the first time America made a fool of itself it will maintain orbit a second time as well.
Reading a newspaper made you a fairly informed person long ago. Now it just makes you misinformed and confused, while draining away any energy you might have had to effect change.
Amen to that but mostly it leaves you uninformed about things other than who won the game, and which celebrity comes closest to showing her erectile parts st the latest gala.
You remark about Gore’s newspaper reading comment is fatuous. If more than half don’t read it then say half don’t read it isn’t false. It’s boneheaded to take the arithmetic he used literally in the first place.
Agree with you about Reagan however. If ever there was a more dunderheaded person as president I can’t think of who it would be. However you don’t seem to be much into considering the long view. The mess things are in today can probably be traced back to the influence, the changes that set things in motion during his occupation of the WH.
Carter had solar panels installed, Reagan had them ripped out.
I think Reagan was the one who decided if you made more than ten bucks in interest on your savings account, you owed taxes.
Well obviously Democracy is a scam – one created by the Elite who can move the mob at will. Can we repeal the voting right act and stop dumb Whites from voting too? Only informed and responsible people should be allowed anywhere near the sacred booth.
So that lets you out.
It’s Skorzeny, btw.
Why should people get their news, their information on current events, from a newspaper? What is a newspaper? Do you mean print on paper? Do you mean a paper of record? What if most people get their “news” online? Why would people be silly enough to get the news from mainstream media? How do you know that half or the adult american public, or voting age public, don’t read anything at all on current events?
Gore let his feline tendencies cloud his thinking. He was all about scratching to get attention, to get a hiss… ’til a threat to plaster him reminded him that a catty sissy can not always hide behind his venomous mouth and his pen.
and you’re doing plenty of hissing right here fran kitty. Incidentally how close did you ever come to winning the presidency? Maybe you can’t stand Al because he’s a shrewd business man. An admirable trait in any self respecting republican but for a democrat taboo
Alphie, it has been previously established that you’re a mouth breathing f*****g imbecile, but let this serve as a reminder.
Al?
Seriously?
fran kitty?
seriously?
Vidal!
Gore Vidal!
You f*****g nitwit.
By all means, just jump in without bothering to follow the subject matter.
Vidal! Vidal!
I don’t think Vidal! can help you
I must say though I’m touched that you took the time to count out a * for each missing letter. That’s what I like about you fran kitty- your attention to detail
Are you trying to defend the Podheritz Clan? Or “Midge” Decter? Gore Vidal said they didn’t seem to know the difference between Israel and America. Dual citizenship is confused citizenship. But as Joe Sobran said, we’d be thrilled with dual loyalty.
I’m in agreement with shotho, JHK’s cake is baked to perfection.
This sentence, in particular, echos my opinion with another great visual:
“Both parties have failed so fundamentally to represent or even apprehend the interests of the nation that they are now merely obstacles to any sort of plausible future, two infernal machines blocking the road, shaking themselves to death.” — JHK
I have a different prediction on who the candidates will turn out to be. (Place yer bets!) It will be the non-choice of the Hillary or the Jeb!; both already anointed by their masters; which is coronated matters not. Sure, this will tear aside the thin curtain of legitimacy that now veils the political system/machine for those that are paying attention. (Loss of trust and faith; disgruntlement, anyone?) That begs the most important question of our time and one that impacts directly on the shaky future of this country of deluded denialists and cornucopians:
Who and how many are *really paying attention*?? (I fear the weight of numbers will tell the sad and foregone tale.)
I agree with your prediction my friend. I started saying that last year when Jeb and Hillary were both announced and the only response I get from those whom I share it with is “I hope not”. There it is again, that “hope” word. It is no small coincidence that it rhymes with dope.
Your thin curtain of legitimacy already lacks legitimacy and it is there only from wishful thinking. We have no plausible future and would be consumed by divine fire and brimstone but so grievous are American sins that nothing will fall from the skies to bring on our ruin. All that will happen is that we will destroy ourselves like a convulsing machine determined to break itself in screeches and groans of ill fitting and cheap parts as they rub together.
K-dog,
“Your thin curtain of legitimacy already lacks legitimacy and it is there only from wishful thinking.”
Of course. But remember, you and I have been *paying attention*. So I ask again: Who and how many are *really paying attention*??
(That determines whether any mitigation of current circumstances will occur via a sufficient number of the populace truly understanding what the problems ARE.)
There will be no mitigating of current circumstances. We are DOOMED! Corruption on the top and ignorance on the bottom. If you are in the middle looking up or down will be no help.
How vile. We’re in danger of creating a sort of quasi monarchy with 2 royal families trading off the throne every 8 years or so. Its a pity about Elizabeth Warren, I like her myself. I suppose the best we can hope for is a military coup. At least the military would give us something we could put our shoulders to and push.
You’re Ok with her pretending to be an Indian? And why would she if Whites are all privileged? Obviously they’re not if people are trying to pretend they’re not White.
And yeah, Indians have the right to be offended too. Of course. But so do Whites. The why is the real question and the one the media will not ask.
I wonder how many Americans will go to the polls in November and come out scratching their heads saying, “I just don’t understand why Underwood wasn’t on the ballot??”
Carrie Underwood…yeah, I’d vote for that! Oh, wait…you must mean that fictional character Frank Underwood. Well, aren’t the current crop of characters all somewhat fictional in their own way?
I’ll guess the number will be in the thousands!
I predict that whoever the corporate media tells us to vote for will be the next POTUS.
I noticed Andrea Mitchell was working hard to smear Bernie ahead of the last debate. She ran a piece supposedly showing Bernie criticizing Hillary’s husband, when if you’d been able to see Bernie’s entire statement, you’d know that he did nothing of the kind.
I think that Andrea might prefer Hillary, but the corporate media doesn’t care one way or the other, Jeb is backup for Hillary, and vice versa.
The lame-stream corporate media pics of Jeb and Hillary make them look good.
Pics of Trump and Sanders look like they are zombies coming to eat your children, mouths open and aggressive.
She’s married to Alan Greenspan, the ultimate Corporate whore. What did you expect?
A friend who has connections in DC says they’re saying they think that if Sanders win the primary process, the Dems will end up with a brokered convention—at which Biden will be drafted.
Good luck with *that* come Election Day, Democratic Party! 😀
Jezzzuss! What’s a connection is DC?
If you deliver cheese to a pizza parlor in DC is that having a connection is DC.
I think I have a connection to DC – pretty sure this friend of mind who use to be gov’t still has neighbors that live in DC. He brings up his Washington DC experience all the time whenever he wants to validate his claim that he’s more qualified to embrace the rightness of the various republicans who come up for discussion than I am for opposing them.
I get real sick and tired of people using the Connection to DC meme.
This just may be the election that will break the camels back and bring down this house of cards. Then perhaps we can get back to being citizens rather than consumers and possibly even create a real democracy instead of the sham republic for which we stand.
I really think it’s more accurate to describe Bernie Sanders as a “social democrat”, and he’s a less dogmatic variant of that than many of his western European counterparts. And that’s good. I think the best person for the White House at this perilous juncture in history is someone who gives a rat’s ass about the working and middle classes of this country with the ideological flexibility to deal with the many curve balls the world situation would toss at whoever occupies the office in 2017.
That is correct. Bernie is a social Democrat ala the Scandinavian countries. The former national political columnist Jon Margolis, who has lived in VT in retirement, wrote a column for one of our VT media outlets back in September saying exactly that, and urged Bernie to re-label, but Bernie wouldn’t change what he’s been calling himself for 40 years just for political gain. That’s typical. People who think he’d nationalize the “means of production”, a defining characteristic of socialism, haven’t followed and don’t know Bernie. And anyone who’s actually been to the Scan countries realizes that their system works far better that ours in almost every way. There’s a reason those 4-5 countries have both the highest standard of living, and the highest “indexes of happiness” of any countries in the world.
Joe has a lot going for him. He’s a scream. He lets his tongue hang out. He says what he thinks.
I haven’t watched a State of the Union speech in decades. But if Joe were Prez, I’d watch. Just to see what comes out. If there was a book titled “The Collected Wit and Wisdom of Joe Biden”, I’d read it. He’d make the White House into comedy central.
Authentic? Shit, no problem there, Joe’s bozo bona fides are well established. Incontestable in fact. He makes Yogi Berra sound like Socrates.
Joe doesn’t have to do like Hillary and crank up his twang or go to a bar to throw back a few. Who do YOU want to have a drink with? Joe or The Donald? Or, perish the thought, Hillary?
Joe’s been saying that he regrets his decision to not run. Well now, is that a hint?
My wife is an astute judge of character. She says that Hillary wouldn’t piss on you to put out a fire.
Run Joe Run !!!!
this was intended as a reply to Petro.
Donald doesn’t drink.
He also fired someone on Celebrity Apprentice after the guy referred to himself as White Trash. The Don also fought against his neighbors to keep a gigantic American Flag up in an elite Florida neighborhood.
Have you meditated on the Celestial Jerusalem coming down like a bride? Jack Van Impe said that beryl is one of the chief substances of the city. It’s going to be great, all the silver, beryl, and gold! Just as good as Oz! Trump is the real Giant, but is there is a dirty little man behind the curtain calling the shots? God, I hope not! One of his team said, What’s the point of having nuclear weapons if we don’t use them? That’s straight out of the Pod people lexicon. On the other hand, he talks about peace with Putin. That is not part of the Pod doctrine.
wtf? let me find my DSM.
“I really think it’s more accurate to describe Bernie Sanders as a “social democrat” — venuspluto67
From the outside view, it is fairer to describe Bernie Sanders as “National Socialist” as in “The National Socialist German Workers’ Party” – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Party , because he doesn’t seem to care how many people outside of US will have to die to provide for American Social Paradise.
That’s the job of the President: to look out for his own people. Not try to spread Capitalism and the American Way or International Communism like your heroes did.
Or would you rather he keep borrowing from China in order to give money to Israel? Foreign Aid is a gigantic and hideous crime against the American People.
“That’s the job of the President”
He would be doing a poor job and disservice to American people if he gets them into a nuclear war.
“Foreign Aid is a gigantic and hideous crime against the American People”
You mean foreign countries aiding the American economy by exchanging their real goods for meaningless green paper? How’s that bad?
There is no such thing as nuclear war. It’s a figment off Bernard Baruch’s imagination. It’s like a wormhole. Terrifying but ultimately imaginary. Who on this planet has seen a nuclear war? Nobody. It is the threat that makes it real.
wrong
Jim sez, “enter some Pentagon general on a white horse.”
Much as racists and chauvinists tout the exceptionalism of the white race or the American nation, people are people. People get frustrated with the course of events, including military people.
But there’s a wide spectrum of possibilities. Many ways to change the arc of history. The Pentagon doesn’t need to do a Third World style shoot-em-up with some greasy Generalissimo on TV proclaiming a new order.
For example, picture an Admiral inviting a congressional leader to dinner saying, geez, it’s been a long time, come to my place, bring the missus, my wife and I would love to have you. And so, the Admiral and politician get together. After a fine meal and convivial banter, the better-halves go off and the politician and Admiral go to the study.
And then, in the comfy-cosy confines of the book-lined room, over brandy and cigars, the politician asks the Admiral what’s on his mind, the guess being that something’s afoot.
And so the Admiral, with carefully chosen words, his tone carefully modulated, expresses “concern” on some issues of national or international import. Calmly, softly, reasonably.
But, in almost the same breath and, with a slight firmness of manner that conveys to anybody’s social antenna “walk-softly-and-carry-a-big-stick” – a two million man military being a very big stick – the Admiral says that he speaks for the Joint Chiefs. Of course with all due regard for legal and constitutional boundaries. Oh, but of COURSE with ALL due regard.
Now, the military is supposed to take direction from civilian authority and not the other way around and such an expression of – ahem – “concern” is out of bounds, at least to wide-eyed idealists like us.
OTOH, as some would say, we have to be practical. So, while the U.S. Constitution is a once-in-a-millenium achievement, to be respected and followed, it is a creation of mere mortals.
Either way, in this scenario no guns are drawn, nobody detained. Military brass just tells politicians, very politely, to smarten the fuck up. With an unstated “or else” left dangling.
Could it happen? I wouldn’t doubt it already has.
Much as racists and chauvinists tout the exceptionalism of the White [fixed that for you] race or the American nation,
So if I notice White males invented almost ALL of the inventions of the modern world [like the laptop I am using]
THAT MAKES ME A F—ING RACIST. WTF?
“So if I notice White males invented almost ALL of the inventions of the modern world [like the laptop I am using]
THAT MAKES ME A F—ING RACIST. WTF?”
I didn’t say anything of the sort. Nor do I think that way. Nor did I mean to imply it. If you want to read that into my comment, I can’t stop you. Having said that, you’re misrepresenting what I wrote.
Now that you brought it up, it’s always instructive to look at the historical record and to look at circumstances as people living in other times might see them. Things weren’t always as they are now.
Look at the world as it was 4,000 years ago. The brownies in Egypt were building the Pyramids. People in the north were building Stonehenge.
Four thousand years ago Semites in the Middle East were devising the first alphabetic script.
So, ask yourself, how would the world look to people way back then? How would the material condition and intellectual achievements of European “White” people look in comparison to the material condition and intellectual achievements of non Europeans and non-Whites?
Also ask yourself, without the mathematical innovations like the Hindu-Arabic numbering system and the usage of the digit 0 (zero) how would we Whites have come up with lap-tops? Don’t forget, Europeans were futzing around with awkward and unusable Roman numerals. It was Hindu and Arabic mathematicians that gifted us our present-day system.
There was a lot of other stuff besides. I wouldn’t be too eager to keep score as to what racial group came up with what goodies. We might not like the results.
Well played. Whites don’t exist and thus have no rights. They did a DNA test on one of the Ramses Pharaohs: straight up Northern European of the Celtic variety. Sure, the hoi polloi were all kinds of colors. But the Elite were White in Ancient Egypt. Later it was different. And later they fell. Could these two facts be related?
The Arabs got zero from the Hindus. Lots of White blood there too until they fell. There was a very, very dark Caucasian Race there before the Whites came in. They had a high Civilization, so it does get very complicated. The high Dark ones stayed away from the Australoids or low dark ones.
They had a high Civilization, DRAVIDIAN’S?
Yes, the Aryans found large cities in the Indus area (now Pakistan) which they conquered without too much trouble. The Aryans were more advanced in warfare, and the natives in most other things, such as Yoga.
The bloods are all mixed up now, but you can still see now and then very dark people with good Caucasian features. The Aborigines didn’t build those cities, or have those ancient written languages of the South.
Because of the denigration of all things White, and of course the resentment over colonialism, Hindus are now claiming the Aryan invasion never happened – and extreme view disproven by much evidence. Yet they are right to claim their pre-Aryan traditions. Jainism existed long before the Vedic religion entered India. Krishna was very dark skinned, although apparently he was integrated into the Vedic system. As the Aryans spread, the physical invasion petered out but the Culture kept going, mixing with the old.
I noticed during Obama’s SOTU address when the camera panned to the Joint Chiefs they didn’t look too pleased:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0hWOKtwVks
Wasn’t it Mao that said power comes from the barrel of a gun? Maybe the Joint Chiefs were reminding everyone including TV viewers.
Jim,
Sorry for OT comment, but just curious about the two books on the table in your Patreon presentation. Couldn’t quite read the titles.
Thanks and keep up the good work.
(From a patron)
Jim, ATL: “In theory, the country might benefit from a partial dose of socialism such as single-payer Medicare-for-all — just to bust up the odious matrix of rackets that medicine has become — but mega-bureaucracy on the grand scale is past its sell-by date for an emergent post-centralized world that needs its regions to get more local and autonomous.”
Correct that programs like Medicare for all, etc. are desirable — more than just desirable in my opinion. Also correct that the last thing we need is a massive national bureaucracy. However, a couple of points:
Bernie isn’t the sort of socialist who is interested in creating that sort of centralized management scheme. In fact he isn’t a socialist at all, really; he would be a moderate social democrat in most of Europe. And he’s every bit as much a supporter of our worldwide militarily-enforced empire as any of the other candidates — the killer corps who make the F-35 think he’s a fine old guy.
Anyway, just as it seems quite likely that the Repugs will find some way to head Trump off at the convention, it’s hard to believe that the Democratic Leadership Committee-types won’t be doing their very best to derail Bernie. And don’t underestimate the Dems’ ability to overlook $hillary’s crimes and corruption (I can never decide whether she should be tried first in Federal court here or for war crimes at the Hague). Bernie will do well in Iowa and New Hampshire, but take a look at the Super Tuesday states. Clinton will almost certainly be massively dominant.
Is it worse than 1860? Oh, yeah, probably. But the very idea of nation states the size of ours, in the coming descent, is just ridiculous. So, maybe we shouldn’t mourn the inevitable demise too much — ugly as it’s likely to be.
You may be right about nation-states of our size not surviving. Perhaps the USA will finally fracture into “The Nine Nations of North America” as described by Joel Garreau back in 1981. Texans are already leaning in the direction of Mexamerica.
Definitely agree. Within a generation, I think we’ll see a fracturing of what is now the U.S.A. As inexpensive energy supplies decline, there will be less contact among different regions of the country, and less and less agreement as to what “the nation” stands for.
Aside from cultural differences there will be other fault lines, too. Especially such as which regions have an abundance of water and which do not. And there may be some segments of the population that finally decide ‘I want something that works and lasts a long time’, as opposed to some technological whiz-bang gadget that becomes obsolete within 6 months and you have to buy another one just to try to keep up. And there may be other segments of the population who decide that they are tired of being despised for the work they do by their Corporate Masters, and decide a DIY approach to their economic needs is far better.
Very soon, we will come to realize that no so-called “national party’ really represents the will of the people, and we start going our separate ways. This could be the election, or coup, that sets off that process once and for all.
” This could be the election, or coup, that sets off that process once and for all.”
It could happen that way, but I expect that it’s more likely that local “pockets of relative enlightenment” will use the considerable power of local governments (where we peons can have an effect) to begin to reshape socioeconomics at home.
That said, I think the super-national model must and will crumble, or explode, and the approaching election looks like a horror-film step along the path to those results.
Yes, unfortunately Bernie is a mainstream Zionist when it comes to Israel. The payoffs will continue under him. But yes, he is no fanatical Communist but a European style Democrat. But just as they can’t say no Muslims, Bernie can’t say no our minorities. He’s no National Socialist in the Gompers, Debbs, Jack London tradition.
Bernie idolizes Eugene Debs (one b) and has said as much on numerous occasions.
Support of Israel is a blind spot, as is support of the F-35s coming to the VT Air Guard in 2018, and certain gun votes, but it goes to show he’s no fool, politically or otherwise.
America will not elect a Jew president.
The only man in the race so far who had the guts to tell the American workers that they’re consuming too much, was Trump. And amazingly enough, he didn’t seem to pay for that statement with his ratings.
Just for that sole fact, he’s the most qualified person to be the President of the United States.
And he’s absolutely right, one of biggest problem of the world today is that America will absolutely have to lower its consumption at the very least by 30%, or there will never again be stability in the world.
Good point.
even a clock is right twice a day.
broken clock.
Got that right.
I wonder how the Dow etc will behave this week?
Anyone else as curious about the collapse?
What collapse?
The last 2 weeks of stock indexes, yes?
Ah, you mean the planned for many years FED deflationary attack, yes?
“I suppose the best we can hope for is a military coup.” — draupnir
There are two Nations in the world that could never have military brass on the very top – Russia and the United States, its just not in the character.
But you could definitely have your own Caliph (or Caliphess)
I agree; the militaries of these two countries are so professionalized and insular that their leaders have neither the experience nor the stomach for ruling a disorganized, collapsing civilian populace. They simply wouldn’t know where to start. Professional military men are naive about real-word goings-on.
I’d be more concerned about a caliphate of a Christian format.
That’s the old Liberal canard. I grant it could have happened but it never did. America is becoming less evangelical now, with the Churches becoming increasingly liberal and soft on Gays, Gay marriage, miscegenation, etc.
Patton and Macarthur could have become Kings. They are very careful to root out such men now before they rise too high.
I am not talking about the religious, but ideological side of things – The Black Project, The Teutonic Order, The Third Reich, The Wahhabi Caliphate, The Presidency of Hillary Clinton.
To make it easier on Janos, the biggest mistake historians made was mixing together Fascism and Nazism. Hitler was a Nazi, Mussolini was a Fascist, Hitler killed Jews, Mussolini saved them.
So, who are you Janos?
Typical Jewish slander. Nazi was a pejorative. The correct name is National Socialism. It’s relationship to Fascism? As a member of a class to the class. National Socialism was a German version of Fascism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazism#Etymology
Mr. Kunstler, who is about my age, still has a lot of interesting and accurate observations to make about the state of American society and how we got here. But none of us aging boomers have answers or even meaningful suggestions about how we might free ourselves from our current quagmire and move forward. That’s as it should be, since we personally won’t be moving anywhere before too long.
The future belongs to the young, and I have little doubt that they will come up with ideas, alternatives, and possibilities that we who have one foot in the grave are simply unable to see, comprehend, or appreciate. At this point, the younger generation has decided to back the best of the aging boomers as a FIRST STEP toward a revolution of values, which they will then have to use, over their lifetimes, to heal the sick society we have left them.
I’ve got just enough of that 60s fire still in my belly to share in some of their passion, their desperate desire for a sane and viable world. And I, too, feel the Bern and will stand with them in this election. The Cold War is over, and it’s fitting and proper that those of us who had its propaganda pounded into our heads from birth are fading away.
As Tennyson put it: “The old order changeth, yielding place to the new.” Time to pass the baton.
I generally agree with you, but I would amend your statement to say that the future belongs to the young-at-heart, not just the young. I am 70, and have my aches and pains, but I still think of myself as young. I still have enough of my energy to plan for the future, and I will turn around to look as a beautiful woman walks by. Yeah, I know I could go tomorrow, but why even think about the inevitable?
“The future belongs to the young, and I have little doubt that they will come up with ideas, alternatives, and possibilities that we who have one foot in the grave are simply unable to see, comprehend, or appreciate.”
The future does belong to the young, who are obsessed with gadgets, virtual reality, social media and a whole lot of other nonsensical useless and unsustainable crap, and don’t have a clue about the socio-ecological-economic realities we aging boomers have understood since the 60’s and 70’s.
Somewhat frustrated by the vacuousness of a young student teacher she was supervising, my wife asked him if there was any basis for his understanding of the world, or any belief or ethical system upon which he operated. His answer: “I believe in technology.” And then he left school, as early as allowed, to go party, which is his and his contemporaries normal behavior.
If civilizational survival depends upon valuable, creative ideas from the empty-headed, politically- and historically-illiterate millennials I know, there’s no fucking hope.
hey doug-
I’m right in the middle on this subject. I personally think one of the most ominous futures for humanity would be the collapse of the digital communication system. there are various ways this could happen, and I don’t think I need to go into them here. if a large percentage of the system went down, chaos would ensue. civilization has become far too dependent on intertwined systems of phones and computers. it is not all the responsibility of the millennials, however. I remember a high percentage of my graduating class of ’72 heading for college classes in computer science. boomers essentially created the digital revolution that some of us love, and the rest of us suffer through. I also remember that while many good ideas came from the turmoil of the ’60’s, a lot of weirdness and bad behavior emanated from those times, as well.
All true, basil.
I’m willing to take part of the responsibility for the vacuousness and gadget-obsession of the youngsters — I built quite a number of the first cellular telephone systems in small cities and rural areas of the US.
I thought I was simply enabling telephonic communication for people in places where it was otherwise unavailable or inconvenient. I remember how jazzed I was when one of our customers riding the range in western Nebraska was the first to notice an approaching tornado and was able to use his new cellphone to alert the emergency authorities.
If I’d known what we were enabling, I would have hung it up and gone back to carpentry, or truck farming.
But, even if some of our generation are responsible for creating the world these clueless youngsters are inheriting . . . these clueless youngsters are still inheriting the world.
And they are almost all addicted to soma (the Huxley version), as well as utterly useless outside their narrow specialties.
= = = = =
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.
“Specialization is for insects.”
~Robert A. Heinlein
And the way Bernie bowed his head and let those evil Negresses berate him bodes very ill for America and the Democratic Party. Trump said he would have never given up the mike. That’s the difference. Blacks have no place in America except as followers of their betters. Too much for them to bear? I agree: let’s cut them loose and give them a generous swath of the deep South to rule as their own nation. It will be fun to watch, eh? We both know what will happen.
Dhimmi that he is.
I really do not understand how anyone can follow politics. To me it is only a theater show. The politicians all lie, saying what they think the voters want to hear. When they get in office, they do what the criminal elite tell them to do. If they don’t, they get shot. The whole election scene is theater. There will be no change to this country from the political actors. The criminal elite are in charge, scams abound, the military is used in violation of international law daily in scores of countries, our government orders the murders of innocent citizens of foreign countries in order to create chaos to hide the US theft of those resources.
My opinion is that the US needs to meltdown, be destroyed from outside, or destroy itself with it’s own stupidity and obliviousness. There’s no hope for the US. Greedy criminals are in charge. My hope for the future is that the US will come to naught.
That’s more a wish than a hope, actually. I’ve lost hope for this country.
But if you gentlemen have solutions, I’m open to them. For me, I’m heading for the hills to grow my own food. When this circus collapses, nobody’s gonna feed me.
It is far worse than 1860:
http://www.cryptogon.com/?p=47163#comments
I’m not without a sense of humor, so I’ll play the what-if election game.
We have to take into account the nature of the American public. It is inherently pretty conservative. By that I’m not referring to a political philosophy, rather a national character trait. Being conservative in nature means not liking drastic change. Given that, I think the status quo will prevail in some form or other.
Obama hates the Clintons. Outwardly, being the head of his party, he backs her, but if he had his druthers, would like her to go away. I wonder if he told Biden that he, Joe, would get his chance at the convention, and he would never had had to campaign.
Hillary will either get indicted, or if not, her enemies will see to it that she gets massive negative publicity to the point that many of her followers will back away. So I think the Dems will run either Bernie or Biden (a Biden- Bernie ticket has a certain ring to it). The one fly in the ointment is when it comes down to it, is a Jewish president or vp electable?
” The one fly in the ointment is when it comes down to it, is a Jewish president or vp electable?”
To paraphrase Chris Rock…”Goyem, please…!”
Mr Darling has repeatedly brought up the Baltic Dry index as a measure of where things are at.
Here’s an article I got from zerohedge on the Baltic Dry. According to this, not much shipping of anything anywhere:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-11/nothing-moving-baltic-dry-crashes-insiders-warn-commerce-has-come-halt
From the horse’s mouth:
“Thousands of ships are in-transit in the North Atlantic Ocean”
https://twitter.com/MarineTraffic/status/686933681387237376
MarineTraffc AIS data is only shown from terrestrial receivers. Satellite data (mid oceans) is only for subscribers.
Baltic Dry is screwed – but it doesn’t show the actual tonnage of shipments, just the price of average shipment without adjustment for inflation.
ZeroHedge is misleading you, Volodya.
http://www.snopes.com/cargo-ships-atlantic-map/
And in other news, oil is so plentiful and cheap in the U.S. that at least one buyer says it would need to be paid to take a certain type of low-quality crude. Oil is so plentiful now that it has achieved a negative price in the US.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-18/the-north-dakota-crude-oil-that-s-worth-less-than-nothing
So, as I have been laid up with a back injury for over a week, I made the mistake of watching th e Sun AM news shows. The panic amongst the establishment is palpable. This should have been Jeb vs. HRC. Now they are all in a kerfuffle. Trump and Cruz are neck and neck in IA. Trump leads in most states. Sanders and HRC are deadlocked in IA and he leads her in NH. A brokered convention on either side is a real possibility.
BTW, Obama’s SOTU speech channeled McCain’s “the fundamentals of the economy are sound” remark. Yes, a party implosion is a real possibility.
I wish California’s Governor Jerry Brown were running for president. He’s getting old, but I feel he truly puts people first and knows how to negotiate between party lines. He doesn’t care for the trappings of status and has so many years of political experience.
Jen in San Jose
I know somoeone who in turn knows a very rich man who knows Jerry.
He says JB is ‘senile’.
People? Which? Moonbeam surrendered California to the Mexican illegals. How can you not know this since you are behind enemy lines? You must be mad – or just a woman.
Women in Europe have stood up to denounce the Anti-Migrant movement. The Muslims did not and do not rape they scream, even though the Police and Merkel have now admitted that they did and do. It will take time to recondition them I guess. Such people never know what’s going on but only what’s told to them.
http://www.dailystormer.com/london-feminists-stage-pro-migrant-die-in-say-cologne-sex-attacks-not-committed-by-moslems/
You’re always a Woman to me.
chipshot – I[f] you really believe that will be enough money to fund these schemes you’re living in la-la land. – Outsider
================
Dear Out,
I think chipshot is wpa-ccc in disguise (using a second handle). I will know for sure if there is ever an occasion where chipshot does some simple arithmetic calculation and can’t for the life of him figure out how many zeros go to the right of the decimal and whether to use the % sign.
(a Biden- Bernie ticket has a certain ring to it). The one fly in the ointment is when it comes down to it, is a Jewish president or vp electable? Beantown
================
Biden is 73 years old and Bernie is 74. That’s one problem.
My wife’s sewing club* pal, Gail (she’s regular jewish and her husband is orthodox and a Rutgers Econ professor) scoffs at the idea of Bernie (a Jew) being electable.
* My wife is involved in so many organizations and exercise classes that I can’t keep track of her.
No wonder your daughter went wrong. You didn’t control your wife! She needs to be at home giving you hell. Oh wait, perhaps you are wise beyond your years.
I heard one poor guy (bus driver) say that he had been sick at home for a week. His wife said that he should reconsider his upcoming plan to retire. He was laughing about it but what a tragedy. His wife doesn’t want him “underfoot” in his own home.
As they say, “Twice as much husband, half as much money.”
I don’t think the FBI cares about much of anything except getting their quota of terrorists, even if they have to manufacture some.
Anyway, Hillary can’t be taken down without damaging Obama. They’re like conjoined twins sharing an organ. The people who wouldn’t mind seeing Hillary go under the wheels again don’t hate her as much as they love him.
BTW, Obama’s SOTU speech channeled McCain’s “the fundamentals of the economy are sound” remark. – dweebus
===============
When did McCain say this? During whose presidential administration?
When he was running for President. He said the economy was strong on the morning of the great collapse.
“Question: Where are all the “birthers” now?” — outsider
Under the Hillary’s skirt?
Fincain – I don’t get it plus Hillary never wears a skirt.
Well, it was a literal translation of Russian idiom – to hide under(or behind) ones mummy’s skirt.
To spell it out in English: I am convinced that behind all attacks on President Obama was sour loser Hillary, and she has a lot of media under her skirt.
You’re a goof, Ivan.
Better than a Nazi.
That’s a cheap shot, but one I’ve come to expect. The National Socialists are being proven right about everything.
“Anyway, Hillary can’t be taken down without damaging Obama.” — Beryl of Oyl
It is worse than that. Hillary can’t be taken down without damaging the reputation of the United States.
Uh, the US has a stellar reputation now?
Maybe, it’s too late to exhume Ronald Reagan, the great communicator who told us what we wanted to believe.
Seems most have no trouble believing anything they want without intervention by village idiots. Freedom in America means the god given right to be as stupid and clueless as you want to be. Why we need the ‘great communicator’ to further the stupidity we already have in abundance I don’t understand.
“Maybe, it’s too late to exhume Ronald Reagan, the great communicator . . .”
Nah, just find another actor who strongly resembles Ronnie. Anyone can read a script on a teleprompter, as long as the dementia hasn’t progressed too far.
Everything is on the edge of flying apart. Eighteen sixty is the perfect analogy.
Excellent read today, JHK.
We may be reaching a point where people really want to see this go over the cliff since there seems to be no redress for a system that has been totally distorted.
I for one am not happy by any means about this, but what is, is…..what will be will be….
Great minds can read the writing on the wall…..
PCR had a similar thread today and even evoked Michael Hudson. You know things are pretty bad when a righty defers to a lefty for some sane analysis.
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2016/01/18/the-21st-century-an-era-of-fraud-paul-craig-roberts/
Also check out David Stockman’s Contra Corner….
http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/the-warmongers-brawl-how-the-gop-is-deserting-free-markets-sound-money-and-fiscal-rectitude/
Wasn’t Paul Craig Roberts one of the authors of “Reaganomics “, which was a foundation of today’s American predicament?
And the whole idea of Reaganomics was to pump up American economy with cheap credit money to increase many times consumer demand and win the Cold War with the USSR.
The idea was that the war loot would compensate for harmful consequences of Reaganomics. And then came Clintons and Informational Superhighway … oops…
Why Paul Craig Roberts refuses to come clean?
Why Paul Craig Roberts refuses to come clean?
Good question I find it frustrating…
Yes, indeed he was a co-originator of supply-side economics. Here’s what I’m gonna tell you.
I don’t agree with supply side at all, but I like the honesty of the man in all other aspects and he’s written a book the failures of Laisse faire economics.
As I’ve just mentioned he read Michael Hudson’s latest book, “Killing the Host- How Financial Parasites and Debt Destroy the Global Economy, ISLET, 2015
There is nobody out there that is pure as the driven snow, but this guy at least calls out the neos. He was in the govt when they started garnering power and he knows how they operate.
I read him regularly and he doesn’t have to be perfect….just honest even if he is a righty. I like Celente too.
Why Paul Craig Roberts refuses to come clean?
Good question I find it frustrating….but li
I find it hard to believe that Paul Craig Roberts was unaware of the real intent of “Reaganomics” (or “supply-side economics” which is the fancy media term – propaganda) – to win the Cold War and to use the spoils of war to pay down accumulated debts – it was a good gamble, until it all went to shitters with sweet Clinton couple.
As PCR has said, and as the above few posts show, most have little understanding of what his, at the time, economic proposals that have wrongly, loosely and colloquially referred to as supply-side (Arthur Laffer’s bogus concept of elasticity taxable income actually) and never actually implemented as he intended. Reganomics was how the media liked to style SS for simpletons. It’s not at all surprising PCR’d invoke Hudson. The actual and unrealized intent of PCR ’80s policies had little to do with SS as most know, it at all, and were never utilized. Hudson is spot on with his analysis of our sick rentier economic “system”
If I was a bit too obscure, point being that PCR disassociated himself early on from Laffer and his “voodoo” economics, as Bush One correctly called it. Reagan was a misguided (as in most things) true believer.
Roberts is admirable for calling out Nuland, Kagan, and the rest of the neo gangsters, and his appreciation for Michael Hudson is just further evidence that he’s not as righty as you’d think.
Mr. Kunstler, when you write “the (Republican) rank and file will never accept Donald Trump as their legitimate candidate”, what do you mean exactly by “rank and file”? If you mean those within the party structure who run the party and organize campaigns, you may very well be right, but if you mean those who regularly vote Republican, you could very well be wrong.
Many of the latter ilk are so annoyed by having their principles constantly belittled by the establishment (political and media), and the oppressive political correctness that requires them to be hypocrites if they wish to keep their jobs, that they back Trump for no other reason than they see him as the only one who will and can stand up to the bullies.
Quite right. Jeb was the Establishment pick. And Jeb said quite openly he planned to win without the base – whom he utterly despises and compares negatively to the Hispanic Invaders.
“Mr. Kunstler, when you write “the (Republican) rank and file will never accept Donald Trump as their legitimate candidate”, what do you mean exactly by “rank and file?” == mack
I venture to guess that Mr. Kunstler meant Republican Governors, Senators and Representatives.
If the major parties disintegrate that will be an improvement since both are committed to serve affluence and not the needs of the nation. The violent convulsions the country went throug in 1860 were not because our major parties disintigrated. Rather they disintegrated because the violent convulsions were already baked in the cake. To fear violent convulsions because our mutual admiration societies fall flat on their face is standing cause and effect on its head.
If the parties disintigrated ‘issues’ might actually be discussed for a change. That would be a good thing!
And last time it only cost 600,000 live and the ruin of the South. Maybe the North will get it this time.
Has any Black ever thanked you for freeing them?
Maybe the “swath” you give them should be Chicago to Detroit.
I say give them Delaware! Does anyone ever think, or care, about Delaware?
What about the Delaware Indians? Never mind their blonde hair and blue eyes!
free certainly from greedy plantation owners treating them worse than beasts of burden but certainly not free from your prejudicial gaze
Some serious cognitive dissonance from Kunstler here on Trump.
On one hand, Kunstler says: “the rank and file will never accept Donald Trump as their legitimate candidate.”
And then he says: ” If Trump manages to win enough primaries and collect a big mass of delegate votes…”
…which, of course, he looks very likely to do according to poll results. So if “rank and file” Republicans are not supporting Trump and Trump looks set to win a bunch of primaries, that means … the majority of supporters of the Republican party look like they will be voting for a candidate they will never support?
Wut?
That’s a bizarre assertion, and the fact that Kunstler makes it is pretty good evidence that he’s not thinking straight on the subject.
” So if “rank and file” Republicans are not supporting Trump and Trump looks set to win a bunch of primaries, that means … the majority of supporters of the Republican party look like they will be voting for a candidate they will never support?”
No, you’re confused. Rank and file party members (of any party) aren’t the people enthusiastically cheering, supporting and campaigning for candidates a this stage of the process. Those are the true believers, the passionate, very definitely the fringe.
Most of the ranks and file are paying scant attention to presidential politics now and, historically, many of them don’t bother until after the conventions, late in the summer.
Look back at this stage of a presidential campaign in almost any year you like (without an incumbent running), and see how closely the situation at this stage relates, or doesn’t, to the latter days and ultimate outcome of the vote.
“Both parties have failed so fundamentally to represent or even apprehend the interests of the nation that they are now merely obstacles to any sort of plausible future, two infernal machines blocking the road, shaking themselves to death.’
That line was one of the most cogent of the article there.
I would also add to this sentence ” …under an increasing umbrella of collective entropy & a poly-cascading system collapse of every leading national institution and indicator.”
JHK, great work this week.
“but mega-bureaucracy on the grand scale is past its sell-by date…”
Actually, Social Security is a mega-bureaucracy that efficiently pays out to 59 million Americans. It sends out 5 million paper checks (and electronically deposits benefit payments for 54 million).
All in all, this mega-bureaucracy works. In 2015, over 59 million Americans (retired workers, dependents, disabled workers, survivors) received almost $870 billion in Social Security benefits.
For many Social Security is their only source of income. 22% of married couples and about 47% of unmarried persons rely on Social Security for 90% or more of their income. Social Security is the most successful government program in our nation’s history.
Bernie Sanders is the only candidate of either party who is proposing increasing the size of social security payments and will pay for it will three simple words: raise the cap. Right now a billionaire pays the same amount of money into Social Security as someone who makes $118,500 a year. That’s because there is a cap on taxable income that goes into the Social Security system. The rich do not pay their fair share.
https://berniesanders.com/issues/strengthen-and-expand-social-security/
Also, support JHK by donating through his patreon page:
https://www.patreon.com/JamesHowardKunstler?ty=h
Robotize the bureaucracy.
OK now tell me as my ex-HHS sister (retired at 55) would say, federal salaries are just a drop in the bucket…
True, perhaps, but regardless, are these drones sacred? If so, then to be fair Bernie should get out in front and declare protection for all the information-pushers who will, if trends persist, like long-distance telephone operators soon be automated out of a job. Oopsie. From Payer to Taker.
I recently paid my quarterly and actually interacted with a human being at the IRS. Frankly, there was no point to it. She could have been an ATM.
Yes, in The Day the Earth Stood Still, the Galaxy is ruled by a Race of Robots. Machines must rule us since we cannot rule ourselves. There are already cars that wont let alcoholics drive if they are drunk. Why not have a computer monitor people when they eat at home, denying them more calories than they need?
You got a mouse in your pocket?
Top Obama Official “Demands To Land” At Russian Military Base, Warns Of War
An absolutely astonishing Ministry of Defense (MoD) “urgent action report” just released in the Kremlin states that less than 24 hours after Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry agreed to meet in Zurich, Switzerland on 20 January, a US military “operated” aircraft carrying one of his top subordinates approached Federation airspace “demanding” immediate permission to land at the highly secretive Chkalovsk Naval Airbase located in the Kaliningrad Oblast.
According to this report, US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland had just left the Vilnius International Airport in Lithuania aboard her US military “managed/controlled” aircraft after her meeting with that nations Foreign Minister, Lazar Comanescu, on a planned flight course for Berlin, Germany, when this “bizarre” incident occurred—and which MoD intelligence analysts are describing as a “Rudolf Hess type moment” due to his being Nazi Germany’s second in command only to Adolph Hitler when on 10 May 1941 he flew to Scotland in an attempt to make peace with Britain and avoid World War II—and which appears to have been this top Obama regime officials “twisted intent”.
Upon Assistant Secretary Nuland’s “Aerospace Forces assisted landing” at Chkalovsk, this report continues, her “further demand” to meet personally with President Putin was denied due to the Foreign Ministry reporting that her “allegiance/devotion” was to former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and not the Obama regime itself as she had previously been a top aide to President William Clinton known as “Doughnut Dolly”.
http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1983.htm
Who’s running things in Washington?
Trump’s other “nuanced” utterances include making lists of citizens due to their suspect religion…
for christ’s sake wake up, islam proves itself on a daily basis to be the 21st century’s cancer. we can’t eradicate it fast enough.
how effing blind can you be?
subtract muslim violence from the world and the world’s basically a peaceful place.
tell us one thing islam has contributed to humanity’s progress.
It was “Worse than Hitler” a few weeks ago. Today it’s “Worse than 1860”. Next week it’s going to be “Worse than the bubonic plague”.
So long as he’s not worse than Dumbya and the white guilt fueled knee-jerk better known as Obama.
you believe this shite? morile.
Do the same boneheads that actually believe that Sanders has a serious chance of getting elected believe that he has a chance of getting any of his plans passed? If you think we are frozen in gridlock now, wait until ole Bernie comes on board. No politician in congress that is not from an extremely liberal district or state is going to vote in a accordance with Sanders. Look forward to more watered-down bills that the banking execs and medical-care execs will write. I suppose we can look forward to another 4 years of executive decrees that usurp the lawmaking body if he doesn’t get that.
If Bernie comes in all by his lonesome, then you are right. But if Bernie comes in and has a new set of representatives, then some things can get done, until the midterms and people vote in another set of representatives. Control of Congress and Senate does change hands from time to time, so gridlock is not a feature, it’s a bug.
If the republic does have a convulsion… Texas will finally have its chance to leave. Perhaps a few other states will go with. This is the better outcome. Pretending that this country is united is far too taxing.
If Bill Holter and those of that camp (derivatives meltdown leading to dollar collapse — cf Economist magazine cover depicting Phoenix rising from the ashes of the dollar wearing a coin of unknown design dated 2018, and sidebar that reads “get ready for a world currency”) secession/disintegration may very well be in the cards. There are intelligent people who believe it is all planned. Our host contends such coordination (conspiracy?) is impossible at the national much less the global level but if he is incorrect in this case the romantic notion of “local” is just that — a romantic notion. Get ready for the Black Helicopters? In any event be careful what you wish for.
Can’t wait for the Second Vermont Republic.
Got my flag already. Jim gave a great talk for us a couple of years ago.
Baja Oklahoma should leave with Oklahoma.
Hello CFN,
Regarding this week’s ‘KunstlerKast’ I have little to say other than he covered the topic more thoroughly than a Vietnam War-Era Arc-light mission – [*] . Since I’m deeply skeptical of anyone getting elected that can or will do anything helpful at this point, I have little else to say about it.
However, I am intrigued by one of his responses to a comment:
“In fact, Napoleon B came out of nowhere at a time when the political leadership of the Revolution was utterly exhausted. He was a 26-year-old artillery officer brought into Paris to tamp down the mob with “a whiff of grapeshot.” Soon, he demonstrated that he was the only competent organizer on the scene. It’s an amazing story.”-J H K.
The salient thing here is an acknowledgement that after the remnants of civilian ‘leadership’ and their ghost-dancing cohorts have had it all out, after the purges and bloodbaths (various) have run their course, there will still be a need for leadership. Someone to galvanize the public into concerted action, manage the crisis and end the chaos.
Given that this is ‘post-industrial’ 21st Century America & not proto-industrial France at the turn of the 19th, I doubt that the person on the posited ‘white horse’ would be a lowly corporal. [**]
I find it more likely that a hard-bitten, renegade Lieutenant Colonel [**], quietly seething at being turned down for promotion bid to full-bird Colonel – and the ‘opportunity’ to go be a lobbyist and general’s lackey in the Pentagon. They would see ‘with startling clarity’ what needed to be done, would seize that moment & execute the power grab with head-spinning rapidity. By the time any potential rival comprehended what had happened, all that would be left to decide was how to hop onboard, or face the wrath of the mob.
Why do I suggest a lieutenant colonel (‘LTC’ or ‘O-6’) especially? Because that’s the last and highest rank in which an officer has direct contact with the rank-and-file soldier/sailor/airman/marine, and the ability to make eye contact, connect and speak with authority to them would be crucial in the first hours of a coup.
In addition, there are a lot of combat-experienced people stuck at this rank precisely *because* they have experienced combat, and can longer _make_ themselves interested in the finer points of self-abasement & sycophancy which are an essential skillsets for work in the Pentagon – whether they are willing to admit that to themselves or not. Many of them refuse to acknowledge (even in utmost secrecy) that their professional ascent is *over* – simply because they performed one tour too many or a too well downrange – for all the good that does them.
So let us consider this question: What would being ruled by a military junta be like? There are pros and cons, certainly. And it is scary to contemplate – given everything were raised to believe about America. But by the time a military junta is a real possibility, it won’t be the ‘America’ we thought we knew anyway.
As we’ve all heard; “Nothing succeeds like success!” By extension nothing Leads like Leadership. But Leadership has been the *last* thing political donor-class has wanted in the office of the president for the past 30 years or more.
Leadership has in fact “been whipped – like a slave” from one court of public opinion to the next, and so for now and the near future it is that last thing we’ll be allowed to get – until certain parties have sufficiently weakened themselves…
If you’re interested in quizzing me about the ‘pros and cons’ I mentioned, be my guest.
Cheers!
— — —
[*] … where there once there ‘stood’ a VC tunnel-and-bunker complex camouflaged by ‘impenetrable’ triple-canopy rainforest, there is only a 600×1200-meter swathe of mud, splinters and one lone partisan, blood streaming from eyes and ears, dragging a shattered AK-47 by the gun barrel across the devastation.
[**] … although more than one maximum leader has worn that rank in the past, and it is also understood that this was meant figuratively.
Perhaps there are soldiers that believe the military is worth caring about, the military-industrial complex, the war-machine, that is. But as far as the country, the nation, the republic, most people have seen the writing on the wall. It’s simply no longer a place worth caring about, or worth defending. There’s no there there, you know? Although the irony would be a pleasure, I mean, a copy by the military to preserve an off-the-rails imperialistic war machine that has not had a win since its 1/3 trophy on a team effort in WWII. That would be more comical than the election.
coup
@ Frankiti:
There’s a sharp divide between the working military, and the ‘military industrial complex’ which does business out of the Pentagon.
Most of the military budget is diverted into the pockets of a half-dozen war profiteering criminal organizations – with the willing help of corrupt military people at the G-level. The rank and file never see it. The wars we’ve fought over the past fifty years have been primarily for the benefit of these same profiteers and collaborators, not for the sake of any posited ‘Greater Good’. Many military people are painfully aware of that.
I know – based on previous posts presented by you – that you are aware of the disconnect between what competent members of an organization know needs to be done, and what they’re directed to do. You mentioned the difference between good law enforcement and that other deeply corrupt, shambolic imitation of it. So please don’t confuse the workings of a properly guided military organization with the actions of the compromised, deluded and misguided.
Cheers!
The Nation is different than the State. You are conflating a lot of different things here. Perhaps you are not an American in your heart?
Who said ‘State’, Goebbels?
Nobody wants to fight to preserve the “State” we have now… nobody in their right mind that is. Thankfully, we have nuts like Clinton and that latino chump with a sheepskin from Florida State fighting for the status quo.
And the nation, well we haven’t had that for a while. The only thing that links Americans are the distributor and arterial roads that connect cul-de-sacs to Target. You can perhaps carve a nation(s) from a few places in the US. Texas and portions of the SW, the northern portions of the I-95 corridor, the deep south, and flyover amber fields of Monsanto grain.
@ Frankiti:
RE | “Nobody wants to fight to preserve the “State” we have now… nobody in their right mind that is.”-f.
Yes, I fully agree. The scenario where ‘some’ [military] leader rides in “on a white horse” is one of political disintegration.
The objective at that point in time would [will] be to reestablish order and a working local or regional economy. We can pretty much assume that the “State” as we knew it would be defunct (despite all pretense).
Cheers!
Trump is here. The White horse is optional.
MisterDarling,
Lieutenant Colonels (LTC) are ‘O-5’. I know you know that. The past overs were a special breed. They knew their pensions were guaranteed at that point, but most were hanging on to collect a ‘decent’ paycheck while still on active duty and to maximize years of service for their future pension and often not much else. Many were bitter about their fate of ‘coming up short’ and wore it on their sleeves. A few accepted their fate and enjoyed a few years of no longer having to suck up and ‘play the game’ to get ahead. Maybe a nice duty station somewhere with a good golf course and the weather to go with it or a Professor of Military Science of an R.O.T.C. program at a nice small college as a bone thrown to them by DCS-PERS. ‘Up or out’ is a cold, cold bitch.
I assume the paper-hanger Adolf would be the “lowly corporal” from your post. That “background” would probably no longer cut it in the era of LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.
-Sticks
Pass (or passed), not past, although the latter might indicate “has been”, which also makes the point. ;>) -Sticks
@ Sticks:
Thanks for the correction – that was an actual goof on my part. I normally proof better than that. Much Obliged!
RE | “Many were bitter about their fate of ‘coming up short’ and wore it on their sleeves. A few accepted their fate and enjoyed a few years of no longer having to suck up and ‘play the game’ to get ahead.”-sticks’o’t-n-t.
The reason that lowly ‘corporals’ were in a position to seize the moment had a lot to do with the level of power-structure disintegration (Deep into Stage Three | Political Collapse).
Napoleon’s moment came after the old royalist regime was in a shambles and attempting to make a comeback. Herr Hitler’s moment came during Germany’s long bout ‘o’ bedlam in the Weimar period. They were appropriately skilled and very clear about what their critical juncture was and was not.
In our day and age who would *most likely* be properly placed? LTC’s in career-limbo might easily find themselves as _the_ ranking commanding officer under similarly chaotic conditions, struggling to conduct ‘stability-and-security’ operations, when suddenly it occurs to them that they are looking at the situation from the wrong end – and the rest would then be History.
— — —
[*] in fact Mssr. Buonaparte had already been commission as an officer when the fateful “whiff of grapeshot” whacked 1400 Royalist dead-enders. “Little Corporal” was a nickname given to him by his soldiers after a battle on the Italian frontier… But that’s a quibble. On the fated day he was an unknown young outsider who simply knew precisely how to win the day, made others believe in that, and got it done.
As far as a motto goes, I’ve always preferred “nothing succeeds like excess” personally.
@ Snarkmatic:
What about “You Gotta Say Yes to Another Excess”?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjpz9CPsbMI
😉
Cheers!
@ Volodya:
“Mr. Darling has repeatedly brought up the Baltic Dry index as a measure of where things are at.”-v.
Hello Volodya,
I choose not to rely solely on the BDI, but on the other well recognized transportation indices as well, like CASS and SCFI;
http://www.cassinfo.com/Transportation-Expense-Management/Supply-Chain-Analysis/Cass-Freight-Index.aspx
http://www.joc.com/maritime-news/international-freight-shipping/scfi-shanghai-containerized-freight-index_20121207.html
The head-fake going on right now in oceanic shipping is to fill up VLCC’s (‘very large crude carriers’) and use them for storage – @ 2M barrels a pop… This is what some industry outsiders attempt to call ‘ships at sea’. The only sea voyaging they’re doing is shuffling from one spot in the anchorage to another, or more bizarrely, getting sent out for delivery and then having the voyage cancelled midway – something no one remembers seeing before.
It’s not just sea-shipping anymore, its trucking and rail traffic now. Berkshire-Hathaway just invested a chunk in doubling B|N’s rail-track capacity, so that they could compete more favorably with trucking, and now they’re taking a bath on the lack of shale-oil traffic.
It’s ugly out there.
Cheers!
“The head-fake going on right now in oceanic shipping is to fill up VLCC’s (‘very large crude carriers’) and use them for storage . . .”
Yup, and, once upon a time, this sort of scheme worked to keep gasoline prices, at least, up.
Not no mo, bro.
Even the Torygraph can’t put a good spin on its headlines:
“FTSE closes at three-year low amid global sell-off sparked by oil plunging below $28 a barrel”
“The FTSE 100 hit its lowest level since November 2012 as oil price volatility and concerns about demand for metals wreaked havoc on Britain’s benchmark index”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/12104807/ftse-oil-price-asia-stock-markets-live.html
@ Doug:
I’m sure you’ve seen this as well:
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/iran-sanctions-middle-east-stock-102835505.html
It’ll be interesting to observe the KSA convulse and the ‘House of Sa’ud’ attempt to deal with shake-out from this one.
Cheers!
From MD’s linked piece:
“Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index collapsed by 7pc to 5,409.35 . . .”
MD: “It’ll be interesting to observe the KSA convulse and the ‘House of Sa’ud’ attempt to deal with shake-out from this one.”
Well, considering the real desperation and tension in Riyadh, and the reckless militaristic posture adopted by Salman, I’m not sure we have any meds available to control the likely seizure.
Can Salman afford to outrage not only Teheran but Moscow, Brussels and, to a significant degree, Washington? Does he care, or is he as crazy as he is, increasingly, appearing to be?
Not that he isn’t boxed in by even crazier people; the wahhabi wackos are going to have a field day with all those young Saudis used to living on petro-largesse. I mean, do you know that they ACTUALLY RAISED THE PRICE OF GASOLINE, the other day?!?!
Not likely to be pretty.
Patreon: Somewhere between patron and peon?
Well, that would be me — although moving ever-closer to peonage as I age and, further, because I have made myself effectively unemployable (and uncontractable, as well as intractable) as a result of my openly hostile attitudes to Our Great Country and its Magnificent Leaders over the years.
I may seem like a newbie here, but Jim knows that I have been an ardent follower, evangelist and sometime pen pal since Geography. And although he sometimes strays to the right far enough to annoy me, he has been one of the most important guys on by bookshelves for — holy shit! — more than 20 years, now.
So, at the moment, my wife is going over the monthly budget to see what we can trim and how much we can commit to keep CFN going. Our contributions will have to be timed for the day(s) of the month when we can be pretty sure there’s some money in the bank. ;^)
I encourage everyone to do the same. Unapologetically savage he may be, but Kunstler is one of the most interesting and important public intellectuals of our time.
Since this is a paranoid doomer survivalist site of sorts, perhaps JHK should consider providing a P.O. Box in order to receive monthly envelopes from supporting patrons?
I mean, is a poster like K-Dog, for example, going to pass along personal financial after all of his paranoid ramblings/insinuations the last few years?
“. . . paranoid doomer survivalist site . . .”
Gosh, and I though we were mostly simple, sensible folks discussing the obvious and inevitable, based upon common sense:
“Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.”
~Cactus Ed
“The tale of St. Matthew Island provides a lesson that needs to be learned not only by reindeer.”
~Uncle Doug
Anyway, it would only really matter for people who don’t even use bank accounts, but . . .
probably a good idea. Jim?
His Saratoga Springs PO Box is pretty widely known, but I don’t know if he’s still using it since the move.
Ed Abbey is one of my favorites too. As he said, unless we stop the Mexicans, nothing else we do for the environment matters.
@Janos
Yeah, but Ed also wanted to send them back armed and ready to overthrow their repressive government. And I don’t think he had any idea about the extent to which our government was (as it has continued to do) propping up and collaborating with the corrupt Mexican elites.
World affairs and foreign policy weren’t really among the subjects of Ed’s special interest or knowledge.
In the case of the Middle Easterners and Northern Africans and Central Asians whose homes we have had major responsibility for destroying or making unlivable, it’s hard to know what he would have thought. In addition to being a brilliant writer and guardian of the truly wild west, and a grouchy irascible rascal, he was also a guy with heart. I like to think he would have seen these migrations as what they are: the inevitable results of the early stages of the resource wars and overpopulation.
One of my favorite Abbey-related moments: On a work-related trip that required me to drive from Grand Junction to some-damned-place, I decided I needed a break from all the bullshit, so I called in and told everyone I was going walkabout for a few days and headed on down to Arches.
As I pulled up to the entrance station, I saw that it was staffed by a youngster who couldn’t have been working with NPS for long. It was early in the season, so hardly anyone was around and she was absorbed in a book she was reading.
I greeted her, to get her attention, and she looked up from the book. She saw me glancing to see what she was reading and held up a copy of Desert Solitaire. With wide eyes and clearly awe-struck, she told me, “They gave me this to read when I got here. It’s absolutely wonderful!”
I congratulated her on discovering a whole new world of wonderful writing and went to find the most remote campsite I could.
Actually I am an open book so there is nothing to be paranoid about. Your book is also open and all is seen. If the men in black deign to speak with thee what secrets do you have. The world is electronic and your secrets are none.
Amen, except for the savage part. IMO in reality he’s quite the old school gentleman of letters.
@ TiredoftheTreadmill;
This made me laugh:
“One thing’s for certain, out of all the other candidates Trump is the one who would step on the accelerator to drive this bus off the cliff at top speed.”-Tired of the Treadmill…
Nicely done! Thank you!
Q: What do you call 26 fraudulent bankers in prison?
http://www.loansafe.org/iceland-sentences-26-corrupt-bankers-to-74-years-in-prison
A: A good start.
😉
Iceland: Getting it mostly right since 2008 — and not taking no crap from banksters.
I wonder if poor retirees are welcome in Reykjavik. Of course, my only qualification for immigration is that I’ve read some of their best fiction in translation . . .
They are letting in 3rd World “refugees” and have been a long time. Slowly their peaceful, advanced society is being transformed into a 3rd World shithole. The torrent of the current Muslim invasion hasn’t reached them as far as I’ve heard. But they are on the slow train to oblivion.
Like I said I’m needing a new Ford Truck and a brass framed Henry Rifle. Question, can Bernie Sanders expropriate some swag from these stinkin Wall Street billionaires and funnel it to me? If he gets into the White House he’ll definitely have the muscle to get into those sonsabitches bank accounts and clean them out! I figger 45 Gs would cover it. If he wins in November I’ll be sending him a letter with my return address on it, you can count on that.
brh
Its a fukkin Free for All!!
the Big Grab is on, the Big Grab!!!
I want mines Goddamit!!!
We’ll storm those ramparts and kick our way in to the place they keep all the gold. we’ll grab what we can for ourselves and pass the rest out to the proles holding torches and pitchforks running up Wall Street. You want free tuition, you got free tuition! Who’s gonna stop us?, I won’t take too much, just 45 Gs worth, that’s all I want.
brh
Are you with me Comrades?
Theres a long blog somewhere online about how Bernie was sent money by Nicaraguan commies and went to some meeting.
The song or chant was ‘Kill the yankees’ or somesuch.
The idea is that everyone gets want they need with the basic necessities being equally and fairly distributed to everyone.
You don’t need a new pickup. You have one. It is only four years old. You want a new truck. When Bernie is president you will learn the hard way the difference between needing and wanting. It is not a Big Grab. It is a rational redistribution of national resources to those who meet means tests. You will be excluded because of your net worth.
simpleton.
BRH that is. one of Mencken’s finest.
I’m with you wpa.
Good article on MLK Day. The author talks about the Connecticut Berkshires and how it was a hotbed on Abolitionism and Union fervor, sacrificing countless young men for the cause. But now, its White children are just treated like generic crackers. One is reminded of how after the WW2 White Americans were informed they were just Nazis waiting to happen.
http://www.amren.com/news/2016/01/time-to-rethink-martin-luther-king-day-2016/
I celebrated Edgar Allen Poe day. Seemed more appropriate.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/932
I wonder if all of those Good ‘Ole Boys buying Ford pickup trucks know that one of the biggest financial backers of the Communist Black Lives Matter organization is the Ford Foundation?
http://mobile.wnd.com/2016/01/the-roots-of-black-lives-matter-unveiled/
the Ford Foundation and the Ford Motor Company are two separate entities. All these big foundations with roots in the 19th and early 20th centuries make donations to lefty and radical causes, never to Christian, white or conservative causes.
brh
The Rockefeller Foundation (the Standard Oil Monopoly money) supports the Black Lives Matter Communist organization which espouses the overthrow of the Capitalist system.
Let’s hope they succeed, and soon!
GAS GOES BELOW $1 A GALLON
Well, that didn’t take as long as I thought it would. It appears to be geographically limited, the result of a gas war, but that it has happened anywhere was unexpected, at least by me.
“During the last three days, the prices dropped below a buck per gallon, falling as low as 46 cents at Sunrise Marathon. Meanwhile, the Beacon & Bridge gas station was as low as 47 cents, said employees of each station in interviews with CNBC. A nearby Citgo says its prices slumped to 95 cents a gallon.”
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/18/gas-wars-a-gallon-is-just-46-cents-here.html
when will you run outta gas? please.
That is not a nice thing to say.
Sander’s would never be allowed to live long enough to serve.
And there may be tricks – yet to be played – that even allow him to get close.
On this MLK day I can only say that we need more John Ruskin’s:
““The rudeness of ignorance which would have been painfully exposed in the treatment of the human form, is still not so great as to prevent the successful rendering of the wayside herbage; and the love of change which becomes morbid and feverish in following the haste of the hunter and the rage of the combatant, is at once soothed and satisfied as it watches the wandering of the tendril, and the budding of the flower. Nor is this all : the new direction of mental interest marks an infinite change in the means and the habits of life. The nations whose chief support was in the chase, whose chief interest was in the battle whose chief pleasure was in the banquet would take small care respecting the shapes of leaves and flowers; and notice little in the forms of the forest trees which sheltered them, except the signs indicative of the wood which would make the toughest lance, the closest roof, or the clearest fire. The affectionate observation of the grace and outward character of vegetation is the sure sign of a more tranquil and gentle existence, –sustained by the gifts, and gladdened by the splendour, of the earth. In that careful distinction of species, and richness of delicate and undisturbed organization, which characterize the Gothic design, there is the history of rural and thoughtful life influenced by habitual tenderness, and devoted to subtle inquiry ; and every discriminating and delicate touch of the chisel, as it rounds the petal or guides the branch, is a prophecy of the development of the entire body of the natural sciences, beginning with that of medicine, of the recovery of literature, and the establishment of the most necessary principles of domestic wisdom and national peace.”
From “The Nature of the Gothic”
didn’t John Ruskin have some sexual problems, the kind not discussed in polite company?
I think I recall something about that.
brh
I knew an American engineer in Thailand many years ago who worked for Dick Cheney’s company Halliburton. He had a bionic dick.
“This course examines current legal and ethical debates surrounding human enhancement technologies. A panel of experts will discuss how emerging technologies such as interactive prosthetics and cyborg advances have changed the person-property continuum. This program will cover a myriad of legal and ethical questions arising from the human genome project, stem cell research, organ printing and nano-technologies. Participants will learn the sides of the current legal debate over a variety of fascinating issues, including: At what point does a human being become a machine? Can human gene sequences be patented and sold by companies? Can insurance companies discriminate based on genetic test results? In this course, lawyers will:”
http://www.dailystormer.com/negress-jada-pinkett-smith-calls-for-boycott-of-oscars-because-not-enough-blacks/
Even at the highest levels, they demand Affirmative Action. They’re not looking for a hand up – they’re already up – they’re looking for a hand out. Sho’nuff!
George Soros provides financial support to Ukraine, Hillary Clinton, and the Communist Black Lives Matter organization.
Sanders is the result of free bread and games to the masses. Trump is the answer for those who are paying for the free bread and entertainment. This will not end the way we think . Any change to the Oligarchy will be met with troops the same way the Veterans, Coal Miners and others were beat down by our one party right wing rulers in the past.
The big difference now is the population of free bread and entertainment recipients is creeping into being the majority
The money is gone everything is borrowed. The Collapse of the system is here now. The election will only show what side gets the pitchforks and ropes and takes to the streets.
I assume the dems want to prevent the collapse until Obama is
no longer in the White house, yes?
The large number of voters who will put Bernie in the WH, will also create the political revolution he correctly says we desperately need.
In other words, public pressure will force congress to write the bill and approve it. – chipshot
==============
Chipshot channeling wpa.
“Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.”
– George Orwell, 1984
Mechanism of expropriation through financial crisis
Financial restart algorithm:
1) Addict the state budgets of the second and third world to the high commodity prices and suddenly expanded financial capabilities – a necessary condition for future unrest;
2) The global deflationary shock, hitting in national currencies, the national budgets, the welfare of the majority of citizens, but especially the middle class of the capitals;
3) Use the agents of influence to lobby for privatization of the most valuable economic assets (oil and metals industry, system of national banks) at rock-bottom prices to fill the state failing budgets;
4) Purchase of assets at rock-bottom prices either directly by transnational corporation or through affiliated agents of influence;
5) Restoration of normal trading after issue of new or updated global currency. In the presence of agents of influence the world hot war may not be even necessary, enough to organize controlled chaos in the vulnerable “underbelly” and massive liberal propaganda.
We are now at stage 2.
Finc,
As in the past, many Generals fail for attempting to “fight the last war” within a new paradigm. The World population in 1930, arguably the last major world depression before our current “troubles”, was a bit over 2 Billion, the majority living in rural-like settings, and, being closer to the earth, a bit more able to survive the privations then prevalent.
In the current circumstance, the earth, roiling with 7+ Billion souls, a small majority of which enjoy the civilized lifestyle available to them in urban life, are an unknown value when the calculation of chaos is to be determined…controlled chaos is hardly a given.
The world is awash in weapons, conventional and nuclear…the issue would be in doubt. You have stated that “history is not a teacher, but a punisher…”. I could not agree more.
Dow is up this morning.
Anyone here follow gold? And – as JHK mentions- the shorting of gold?
Gold to eventually touch support at around $860 (1981 peak). Silver to under $10. How they get there is anyone’s guess…..probably in a manner that disappoints the maximum number of punters, both bull and bear. ETF betting vehicles: GLD and SLV. Long dollar is the same bet as short gold…as their charts are usually mirror image.
Always use stops and avoid leverage…….this is pure gambling with an insider skim of at least 10%.
Will the USA dollar collapse?
JHK thinks so.
The Dow ‘held’ today but I think collapse of stocks is ‘in the cards’ in 2016.
And what do you think?
Also golds shorts to deliverables is now 400? to 1.
History shows that in a post bubble contraction, the senior currency remains perpetually strong…….
let’s cut them loose and give them a generous swath of the deep South to rule as their own nation. – Janos
Maybe the “swath” you give them should be Chicago to Detroit – Sticks
I say give them Delaware! – Florida Power
================
How ’bout that old favorite, Madagascar?
No go Q, the Jews wouldn’t like that.
How much per month are you pledging to Jim? You will like Madagascar. There’s a Café in the Capital that is frequented by ex-pats. You can meet Bill there, and also log in for Clusterfuck and to manage your stocks.
JHK says that a Sanders single payer system might break up the odious matrix of medical rackets. He’s probably right about that. He then says that mega bureaucracy to run the beast wouldn’t work. He’s probably right about that too. He says that we’re in a world that needs its regions to get more autonomous. He’s sure got that right.
You might look to individual states to run their own state-wide single payer system. But, given that 30 of 50 states have Republican governors and, given that a majority of state legislatures are Republican, state-run single payer systems wouldn’t have a snowball’s chance, at least in these places.
Or, given the hopelessness of fighting vested interests with their iron-grip, we can just let nature take its course. Most people can see that what amounts to gangster-run, extortionist medical systems are unsustainable in the longer term.
Resources are limited and the medical racketeers claim an exorbitant share. Put simply, the racketeers use the huge asymmetry in knowledge and influence that’s working in their favor to clean out your bank account. This can’t go on. These arrangements will collapse.
I would be wary of bureaucrat-run systems. Most of us have experience with their modern iterations, whether it’s a cable provider or a government department. They can’t seem to get things right, but they most often err to your disadvantage and for their own benefit. And getting a correction results in a monumental, bitter and often futile struggle.
Bureaucracies take on a life of their own, the clerisy that run them stop even pretending to be serving anyone but themselves.
You are absolutely correct about bureaucracies. The solution is not to change over to a single payer system, but to have medical/big pharma play by the rules and play fair.
Why are drug companies allowed to charge Americans much more for the same pharmaceuticals than those in other countries pay, thus forcing us to subsidize foreigners? Why is it illegal to purchase drugs from Canada and bring them to the US?
Why isn’t it mandatory for doctors to inform patients in advance of performing a medical procedure, the cost of that treatment, with the total itemized (did you ever demand that and what was the physicians reply and attitude)? Did you ever walk into a car dealership and buy a new car without knowing the price in advance because the dealer wouldn’t tell you? Well, why would you allow this to happen when purchasing a service for your most precious possession – your body?
The answers are because of corruption. The medical industry is a big donor to political campaigns. Until there’s reform in congress and in the industry, including enforcement of existing regulations, it makes no difference what system is in effect – the medical/patient interaction would still be a mess.
Hey Bill, I’ve known a few doctors here, including a neighbor. From what I can see they work hard and put in a lot hours, and are on call all times of the day and night. My neighbor seems genuinely concerned about her patients; she’s a cancer Doc and worries about the suffering of the people she treats. One time a few summers ago my young nephew was playing out on the Cul de Sac and fell, driving a piece of glass into his knee. (he was 6) She came right out, removed the glass, cleaned the wound, and patched him up. Bill, I think there’s some pretty good people in the doctors ranks.
brh
Remember video stores? I rented a defective one and got a refund. But they never took it out of circulation. Maybe the manager couldn’t? Or it was too much trouble to tell the manager? In any case, the various levels of personnel are so many layers of defense for the people really in charge.
Western elites are deeply divided as defined by perspectives of the financial crisis, and diametrically different purposes of financial and industrial capital in these countries.
As we know from the history of 1920-30, financial capital prefers “deflationary” scenario out of the crisis, as it was during the Great Depression in the United States. This results in the destruction of industrial capital and finance capital buying up large companies.
At the same time, in Germany industrial capital dictated inflationary scenario, when for the sake of the national capital in the hands of large-scale industry local financial capital was sacrificed.
Scores between the capitalists of the 20th century were settled within national boundaries. The fundamental difference of the global financial crisis of the 21st century is in its global nature. Today, the industrial capital has moved mainly to developing countries and financial is based in the West. But the West can not do without a national industrial capital, especially high-tech, on which military might is based on.
It seems that a repetition of the scenario of managed “Great Depression” on a global scale ensures world domination by the West. But, firstly, the industrial capital of the “second world” in contrast to the United States during the “Great Depression” is protected by national states of China, India, Iran, and Russia. And these states at any time can use the experience of Soviet Russia, nationalizing Western capitals, while being under the protection of Russian weapons. And secondly, the global depression in the same way is detrimental to the industrial capital of the West, and thus for the nation states.
Therefore, the industrial capital of the western countries and national bureaucracy unanimously opposed attempts of investment bankers to run a deflationary scenario. This is the first and main line of division in the western elites – between nationally oriented elite and cosmopolitan finance capital, ready to relocate from New York and London, even to Singapore, Hong Kong, or even Moscow, if only the local government could strictly rein in local population.
The inflationary scenario out of the crisis is not satisfactory, in particular, to the financial elite that convince national bureaucracy to prevent the dismantling of the neocolonial financial system that provides the advantages of the West over the East. A paradox and a terrible headache for the whole of the western elites – both main scenarios out of the crisis mean the collapse of nation states, providing military power and hegemony of Western elites.
Therefore, the Western elites have invented a third, more complex scenario “Euro-Atlantic fortress”, meaning the launch of a moderately inflationary scenario for the salvation of national economies of “Euro-Atlantic area” and at the same time – deflation, depression scenario for the rest of the world.
Re Jim’s Patreon Page:
The clever hat-in-hand appeal for donations (and my initial reaction to it) was reminiscent of a scene in the movie About Schmidt. Jack Nicholson’s character is watching TV when an ad appealing for donations to care for Tanzanian orphans begins to engross him. He slowly, hesitatingly, begins to reach for the phone… then pulls back… then finally picks up the phone and makes the call. I have not yet ‘made the call’ so to speak.
I truly DO give Jim a lot of credit for the incredible discipline, not to mention, talent, of cranking out these wonderful columns every Monday for more than 10 years. I am reminded of the similarly prodigious discipline and writings of Will Rogers, both weekly and daily over many years.
http://www.ellensplace.net/writer.html
Before the word ‘blog’ was invented, I once fancied I had something worth saying about the stock market and began in the summer of 1985 writing a monthly essay titled Shtik’s* Market Timer. Initially it was quite crude – i.e. hand written – since I didn’t know ‘word processing’ from food processing.
I would run off 40 copies or so and hand them out to market-kindred spirits among co-workers, and send a copy each to the Wall Street Journal and Barron’s. The Barron’s copy one month was, in turn, forwarded by them to a columnist at Forbes and this resulted in a favorite anecdote that I occasionally tell at dinner parties when I am on my third glass of wine and feeling full of myself. Again (see *), anonymity concerns prevent a re-telling here.
I continued writing these essays for two years so I have at least an inkling of the effort and discipline involved in a journalistic undertaking. Because there is a frustrated artist in me, I began to include small pencil drawings that gave emphasis to the writing.
I finally had to admit that the data I had kept (and still keep to this day) and incorporated into my own proprietary formula was only marginally better (if that) at making money in the market than throwing darts blindfolded at the stock listings in the WSJ. And so SMT (Shtik’s Market Timer) faded into history. Here for a taste is the first paragraph of the November 1, 1986 issue:
Crisp and sparkling Saturday morning. From upstairs, cheerful sounds of romping kids and TV cartoons. Aroma of warm muffins and curling coffee vapors. Brilliant shafts of sunlight slanting through Fall’s splendid foliage illuminate the familiar face of Barron’s. All’s well in our world.
*Actual last name disguised to maintain anonymity
muslims say rape victims are to blame because they were naked and smelled like perfume
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/01/19/salafist-cologne-imam-at-terror-mosque-girls-were-raped-because-they-were-half-naked-and-wore-perfume/
can it get ANY FUCKING MORE INSANE???
of course , NO FEMINISTS speak out against this.
i WONDER WHY???
on the other hand, this is just what europe and the US needs, more of this insanity, to finally, oh finally, wake people up to the cancer that islam is
disclaimer – islam is a religion of peace and guns should be confiscated for everyone’s protection
It is not ‘insane’. It is blame the victim.
meanwhile ——
https://medium.com/@octskyward/the-resolution-of-the-bitcoin-experiment-dabb30201f7#.ndkggtl3j
Maybe the sponsors of the gun show can get Black Lives Matter to protest the gun show so that the gun dealers can sell more guns?
Or arrange to hold the gun show coterminous with a Muslim refugee protest? The guns would be sell’n like hot cakes!
“I assume the dems want to prevent the collapse until Obama is
no longer in the White house, yes?” –malthuss
Are you suggesting “collapse” can be micro-managed down to the start and stop date? I don’t think so.
But, if you are right, this is the best, most hopeful, news I have heard this week (and I’ve had a lot of good news this week).
Thanks, Malthuss!
Crude Oil – Electronic (NYMEX) Feb 2016 just traded for less than $28/bb, at $27.92.
$20 oil is just around the corner. The Obama recession has begun.
This week’s column is the reason I keep coming back to Clusterfuck Nation. Now, if i just didn’t have to scroll past all these losers desperately hoping just one person will read their pathetic ramblings to merely say, “Thanks, Jim!”.
You sir are the winner!
Now congratulate yourself!
Well done!!!
“BRH – one of Menken’s finest” — snarkomatic
One of the boobosie, I presume. Not very sophisticated, naïve, just doesn’t understand the nuances of Socialism, I get it.
Ah, Menken. I picture him walking the streets of his beloved Baltimore, in say, 1926. Then there’s Booby Bare’s Plaintive tune, c1966, ‘The Streets of Baltimore’. 50 years on, here’s Baltimore, 2016: Dr. Peter Marvit, NIH physician, musician, dancer, and pioneer, decided to move into an all black Baltimore neighborhood in the spring of 2015. Not long after, standing on his front porch, he took three rounds to the head, ending his career as ‘urban pioneer’. What, didn’t hear about it on CNN? Menken might get two blocks if he tried to walk around Baltimore today, just another white maggot.
brh
Hey BRH — how’s it hanging in Hartford? Or Bridgeport? How long before Yale just buys New Haven and builds a wall?
Not too good here.
State deep in debt and another tax hike coming.
Last year our distinguished Gov. decided to give drivers licenses to illegals, “so they could drive to work”. Wait a minute, I thought they weren’t allowed to work here if illegal? No matter. He said it would be just a few thousand, so far its 100,000 and counting. DMV is all fukked up, long lines, lost records, but the Commissioner cannot be fired because he is a Puerto Rican, which, strangely enough, gives him immunity. Anyway, In the urban areas, wicked wrecks, hit and runs, stolen cars, cars smashing into buildings, cars stolen with little kids in the back seat, carjackings (2 days ago a gang of ‘Youts” surrounded a car at a stoplite in Hartford, dragged the driver out, beat him senseless, and took the car) people getting run down (today in Waterbury) cars set on fire, cars rolled over … suddenly Latin American traffic behavior has been moved el Norte and we have to live with it … that is, we eat the sh-t the govt. dishes out and are expected to smile and say it tastes good.
Otherwise, year off to a slow start. A new minor league baseball stadium in Hartford, supposed to be ready for April 1, 3 months behind schedule, because, to quote the General Contractor, “Everything that can be stolen, has been stolen”. Somebody gunned down in Norwich this morning, stabbing in Meriden, two white kids beat down by 8 ‘Youts in Norwalk after a basketball game, hardly enough to even mention.
brh
Oh yea I almost forgot, GE moved out. The Dem legislators tried to tax the sh-t out of them one last time. They said FU, we’re outta here.
brh
Thanks for the update. GE also moved one of their business units out of New York State and landed near me in Clearwater,
Things are fairly quiet in Florida, although I don’t keep up with local news, and am about to move to North FL anyway. The hispanic populations in the Tampa area have been here for a long time and are assimilated.
When FL adopted their liberal (!) conceal carry law many predicted shoot-outs in parking lots and etc. Quite the opposite has occurred, although the George Zimmerman event was an indicator of what can happen.
‘ the George Zimmerman event was an indicator of what can happen.’
Meaning? An attacker was killed?
Is yr Police chief a woman? yr college prez a woman? Ours are.
Malthuss — Zimmermann was enabled by his firearm, which he carried legally per the Florida law. I doubt he would have confronted Trayvon without the weapon, but that is my speculation.
Suspend disbelief for a moment, turn back time and accept my hypothesis: Trayvon goes on about his way, our host writes another blog instead of A Box of Skittles, no cannon fodder for the BrotherHood Propaganda Machine, no Attorney General overreach, and on and on.
But we all know “what happened” and the world is not a better place for it. And good grief, here’s Spike Lee at it again re the Oscars – as if anybody should care — whining like a spoiled child. One wonders whether he will tweet the addresses of the oscar voters so his brothers in arms can take matters into their own hands.
Full Disclosure — I have a permit. The training/application process was casual, and if I were in a situation with some of those in my class I would feel more threatened by them.
But to repeat, Florida did not become the Wild West despite the prognosticators.
” if I were in a situation with some of those in my class I would feel more threatened by them. ”
FP,
So, you might opt for the tender mercies of some mindless thug, one perhaps with an unreasoning hatred of you, his target, rather than the support of a few “hilljacks” with whom you “trained”? THAT is a disingenuous canard…
Nigga, please!
Good Grief Field… What I meant by that was, say I was sitting in a subway and in the booth across from me sat the guy who, upon responding to a question from the NRA trainer always answered “OPEN FIRE!” or the octogenarian with dubious eyesight who likewise opined that firing first and asking questions later was the correct response,…assuming a threat walked through the front door I’d dive for the floor and hope these “classmates” didn’t shoot everybody in the place.
That’s a far cry from opting for the tender mercies of some mindless thug. The point I had hoped to make was that compared to other places — North Carolina for example — the path to conceal carry permit in Florida is a bit easy.
As for disingenuous canard I submit you were not there and you do not know what you are talking about. The one point the instructor tried to drive home was that once you draw your weapon in public you have a legal problem. Fire it and you have a larger problem. The message was RESTRAINT. The same restraint in the rules of firearm safety, such as knowing what’s downrange.
Nigga indeed.
FP,
Well, I apologize if I sounded strident…your comment sounded much like …”a gun in your house is more dangerous to you than a burglar, who would take if from you and use it against you, etc. etc. etc.. I would still opt, however, for an octogenarian with bad eyesight, and a gun, to 3 or 4 “youths” with an agenda…
“nigga please!” I was quoting from Chris Rock, who uses the term as an incredulous expostulation.
I am glad that you have gotten your carry permit…eyesight and/or age notwithstanding….
Nobody gonna comment on the tremendous endorsement Trump received today? I would not be surprised if Trump follows her example and quits the middle of his term, you know, after he finds out it wasn’t as easy to deport immigrants, defeat ISIS, build a wall and have Mexico pay for it, etc. None of Trump’s promises will be kept and Trump doesn’t need the presidential salary… so here comes President Palin.
Jim’s Patreon’s page is the most depressing thing in this blog post. I knew journalists were poor, but yeesh!
It must be so super-easy to buy a journalist. Who can trust any news source?
Welcome to the real world.
I’m quite certain that journalists and writers of every sort are fairly easy to buy — and the most accomplished hawkers of their wares are, no doubt, the wealthiest.
You wouldn’t have to read too much of Jim’s work to figure out that he’s not for sale (not even to Andres Duany, who probably could have made him a rich man). [Maybe I shouldn’t have said that, but fuck it.]
If money were the primary goal, he’d be writing very different stuff — he’s really very agile and I’m sure he could sell tons of any popular crap he was willing write, if he were willing to write popular crap.
Of course, it’s not too late: Sue Grafton is nearly at the end of the alphabet and Jim is ten years younger, so he could consider empty-headed bedside reading as a new venture. ;^)
I think I’d rather we all find a few bucks to chip in.
“didn’t John Ruskin have some sexual problems, the kind not discussed in polite company?–BRH
So you’re one of those types who upon gazing at the Sistine Chapel ceiling would immediately begin typing a Google search on their I-Phone. The text would read:
“Was Michelangelo gay?”
Not about gayness, something about little girls.
I never read anything about “little girls”? I read that when he was 50 he proposed to a 17 year old and when 70 to another teenage girl.
By all accounts Ruskin suffered from depression. Indeed, depression is a very common affliction among all groups of people but among aging white males it seems to result in disproportionate numbers of suicides as compared to other ethnic groups. Perhaps white men are not as mentally tough as other groups but who really knows. At any rate, some theorize that after a lifetime of privilege white men more easily throw in the towel when confronted by the harsh realities of aging as compared to other ethnic groups such as blacks and Mexicans. But I digress.
Anyway, at least Ruskin didn’t put a bullet in his brain when the going got tough. Instead, he tried to embrace beauty.
Are you talking about Hemingway?
brh
Are you suicidal? And attracted to young girls as a desperate alternative? Or are you not White too? Or not an aging White male?
“Crisp and sparkling Saturday morning. From upstairs, cheerful sounds of romping kids and TV cartoons. Aroma of warm muffins and curling coffee vapors. Brilliant shafts of sunlight slanting through Fall’s splendid foliage illuminate the familiar face of Barron’s. All’s well in our world.”
Good stuff Q and I’m sure Norman Rockwell would agree!
Oh, James, you make it sound like you have no faith in the ptb to do any fucking thing that they are of a mind to do.
Here’s my best take at the moment. “They” told us long ago that Hilary was going to be the one. Now, to make things interesting for themselves and to poke it right into the big eye of the masses, they allow or instigate a steaming pile of bad press for the lady. A wave of the ol’ magic wand and presto! she will be ushered in with all the fanfare of another coming of the ‘bama. “They” are just entertaining and amusing themselves. There will be no crisis.
I wish I knew where the plug is – I’ld pull it.
your mileage may vary,
~toktomi~
MSM is beginning to talk about Bernie Sanders now that he has a 27 point lead over Hillary in New Hampshire. All polls show Hillary is least trusted. Ozone was right about trust being important.
But Bernie is also talking issues discussed on CFN re: Wall Street racketeering, fraud, theft, maliciousness… etc. Main Street bailed out Wall Street in 2008. Now it is time for Wall Street to bail out Main Street.
Bernie won’t do it, but I would aise the taxes to a 95% on those earning more than $1 million. Let’s level out this sucker at $1 million and make it nigh impossible for anyone to earn more than that by taxing income over $1 million at 95%… effectively a maximum income to go along with the $15/hour minimum income.
Force the rich to get by on $1 million a year. Take away their citizenship and kick them out of the USA if they are not playing by the rules.
This has been an unpaid rant not approved by any candidate.
Bernie won’t do it, but I would [aise] the taxes to [a] 95% on those earning more than $1 million. – wpa
===========
Bernie won’t do it, but I would eliminate the entire income based tax system and institute a single flat rate consumption tax. The purchase of fungible investments such as stocks and bonds would not be classified as consumption. Investments in tangible items such as art and real estate WOULD be classified as consumption. All subsidies would be done away with. No more aid to foreign governments. No special breaks for churches and charities. No involvement of government in the funding of education. To the extent possible, states would be encouraged to adopt the same policies.
Does this include the billionaire donors to the Democratic Party? Or do they get the same pass they always seem to get in the popular consciousness? Is it retroactive? Would you claw back “ill-gotten” gains, such as from ex-hedge fund manager Tom Steyer?
A bloke recently remarked on a Black Lives Matter website comments section that if the US had a Communist revolution then the common people would only have to work a couple of hours each day, and they could spend the rest of their free time writing poetry.
Pucker,
Two hours of work a day, and the remainder of the day entertaining the muse? I’ve already begun to explore my potential as a poet…”There once was a man from Nantucket… “
DOW futures (net of fair value) are down more than 300.
Good night, sleep tight.
Don’t worry, Q.
big Shindig over in Davos, Big Shindig!
ALL QUESTIONS WILL BE ANSWERED, ALL FEARS WILL BE ALLAYED!
Think any Muzzies will be showing up in Davos, as uninvited guests, “demanding a seat at the table”. They’ll be sitting at the table wearing an explosive vest, Kalashnikov slung over the shoulder, dictating terms and taking concessions. Any objections?
for the Day of the Hyena is upon us.
brh
So you’re one of those types who upon gazing at the Sistine Chapel ceiling would immediately begin typing a Google search on their I-Phone. The text would read:
“Was Michelangelo gay?” == Buck
Orthodox Christians before the iconoclastic wars and the Great Schism refer to the art and human sexuality that too many people still believe to be an obstacle to salvation, despite the fact that the traditional form of sexual activity ideally suited to the commandment “Be fruitful and multiply”.
The icon (mosaic) was commissioned by Theodoric of the Byzantine Empire when he was going to move to Orthodoxy, made by Byzantine masters:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/b9/9e/45/b99e45ff99281c4503e619b6daca9fa8.jpg
Report by British Petroleum about the change in the structure of primary energy
The so-called renewable sources of energy – barely noticeable bright orange bar (not to be confused with the light orange nuclear). Disappearing small in the early 2000s, it barely increased its market share. Hydroelectric power is often attached to renewable to make it look more impressive. But even then it gives just 9.25% of the global energy consumption. The main sources are still and will remain at least until 2040 oil, gas, coal, nuclear.
http://www.bp.com/content/bp/en/global/corporate/energy-economics/statistical-review-of-world-energy/primary-energy/jcr:content/sublanding_dropzone/image.img.840.high.jpg/1440672231793.jpg
“DOW futures (net of fair value) are down more than 300” == Q
The managed process of deflating bubbles on the American Stock Exchanges, which follows the fall on other exchanges, especially the Chinese – only under these conditions the dollar vacuum cleaner will work to full capacity.
It should be clear by now that fall of the oil prices is a result of double-edged deflationary attack: activating of hidden excess production capacity by usual suspects by about 5 million barrels a day plus manipulation of oil futures – the amount of “paper” oil traded multiple times exceeds the amount of “physical” oil delivered.
Goal is pretty clear – taking valuable real assets from the “weak hands”, either in the form of “Orange revolution” (target – Venezuela) or “market operation” – Saudi ARAMCO.
As usual, it’s all accompanied by a giant deflationary “Psy-op” attack by liberal media, mainstream and “alternative alike” – banksters are dealing from both hands.
“I choose not to rely solely on the BDI, but on the other well recognized transportation indices as well, like CASS and SCFI;
….
It’s ugly out there” – MD
Since all transportation indexes reflect the price of shipping in US dollars (not the volume), how much the price of oil that has fallen almost 3 times could reflect on such index?
Birobidzhan: We will take all the Jews who will be escaping from Europe
Governor of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast (Russian Federation) Aleksandr Levinthal:
Today we are ready to accept all the Jews who went to other countries for various reasons. We are waiting for all who wish to return home or to come and live here. Of course, we will accept all the Jews from European countries, where today they can be attacked by anti-Semites … We believe that Jews who come to us – a highly cultured people and needed by the Jewish Autonomous Region.
I bet that Crimea would still be more desirable for future Jewish refugees from Europe.
Yeah well of course. But that’s not going to be allowed. The Crimea belongs to the Russian People, not the Jewish.
Don’t be silly, Janos. The Jews of Crimea are perfectly happy with Russia in charge — much happier than under the anti-Semite infested government in Kiev. And the Crimeans are, overwhelmingly, perfectly happy to have them.
Here ya go:
= = = = =
The Jews of Crimea Feel Safer With Russia in Charge
Abandoned idea of a Jewish homeland not dead after all as Jews in war-battered Ukraine weigh their options
http://observer.com/2015/07/the-jews-of-crimea-feel-safer-with-russia-in-charge/
You realize I trust that Victoria Nuland is an American Jew? And that such Jews overthrew the Ukrainian Government, using the Nazis – whom they have now largely purged?
I sense you’re trying to do the old liberal shuffle, blaming Whites and excusing Jews, (or Blacks, Browns, etc) It wont wash anymore. If you can’t stand for your own People, at least stand for abstract Truth and Principle. If you can’t do that either, then you’re reducing just being a traitor and a toady.
Most unprincipled people are at least blindly for their own kind. Whites are unique in rebelling against even lowly natural instinct – and becoming hopelessly vile in the process. The true principle? My Country right or wrong. If right, to be kept right. If wrong, to be put right. At least the blindly patriotic have the first part if not the second. Liberals often don’t have either anymore.
Correction: reduced to being
“You realize I trust that Victoria Nuland is an American Jew? And that such Jews overthrew the Ukrainian Government, using the Nazis – whom they have now largely purged?”
Victoria Nuland is an American neocon, who happens to be a Jew, who was tasked by her State Deparment masters and the Big Mistress (who happens not to be a Jew) to aid a bunch of Ukrainian oligarchs, *some* of whom are Jews, in overthrowing another bunch of (“legally” elected) oligarchs, because they were standing in the way of US expansion of NATO and chipping away at Russia and its natural sphere of influence.
The Nazis have been mostly removed from positions of direct power in the government, but they remain powerful and dangerous and our noble Congress has just lifted the ban on using US funds for the support and training of their vile Azov Battalion, among others.
By the way, the coup totally failed to achieve EUSA goals and strengthened Russia’s position by making absorption of Ukraine by NATO utterly impossible and creating a hostile buffer zone between Russia and the Imperial Western powers.
“I sense you’re trying to do the old liberal shuffle, blaming Whites and excusing Jews. . .”
You’re such a ridiculous racist that anything you “sense” is almost certainly senseless.
“The true principle? My Country right or wrong.”
Hah. “Countries” are far past their sell-by dates and I have no allegiance to any of them. The sooner the nation-states dissolve, devolve or crumble, the better for all of us.
“Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious”
~Oscar Wilde
What’s going to replace nations? What a rotten attitude. You’d leave us defenseless before the Corporate Overlords.
Jews dominate the Neo Con movement. That’s well known to the knowledgeable. They were Trotskyites before this. They used to spread Revolution in the name of Communism. Now they do it in the name of Capitalism and “Democracy”. Is it really so different? What do they really believe in? Their own power and dominance of the world.
Oscar Wilde? He’s your moral paragon? A patron of boy prostitutes?
@Janos
“What’s going to replace nations?”
Either something based upon city-states or bioregional associations or Mad Max.
“You’d leave us defenseless before the Corporate Overlords.”
I very much doubt that the corporations are going to survive descent and collapse.
“Jews dominate the Neo Con movement.”
It’s true that that many of the early neocons were Jews. It’s also true that the movement has long been interdenominational. Bonkers Bolton is a Lutheran; Icky Dick Cheney is a Methodist; Don “The Reaper” Rumsfeld is a Congregationalist; unless the Woolseys converted somewhere in the past four centuries and I missed it, James is not a Jew; Kirkpatrick was an ardent Zionist but not a Jew; Jerry Boykin is a conservative Christian activist; Francis Fukuyama is a Congregationalist Christian; Victor Hanson, of the Hoover Institution, is some sort of Protestant Christian; Fred Barnes, over at the Weekly Standard, certainly isn’t a Jew; Marco Rubio, a Catholic, is in the process of being re-baptized int neoconservatism . . . and on it goes.
“They were Trotskyites before this.”
I like Trotskyists much better than neocons and, although I wouldn’t sign up, I’d love to have had a chance to have dinner with Lev at Rivera and Kahlo’s table.
“What do they really believe in? Their own power and dominance of the world.”
Neocons? Yes, that’s right. Jews? Only a small minority of wack jobs, who happen to have some powerful positions here and have long threatened the very existence of Israel (and the occupied Palestinians) with their instinctive aggression, brutality and refusal to accept reality.
“Oscar Wilde? He’s your moral paragon? A patron of boy prostitutes?”
There’s so much wrong in that short blurb that I can’t be bothered to refute it all, as it would fall on deaf ears, anyway. I’ll just point out that the argumentum ad hominem is not only one of the best-known logical fallacies but also one of the dumbest and most boring.
The biggest mystery of our time – how could certain Jews be antisemitic?
Because the word doesn’t mean anything anymore if it ever did. Is an anti-Semite one who doesn’t like Jews or one whom Jews don’t like?
Many Jews served in Hitler’s army. If Hitler had won, then the Jews wouldn’t have gotten away with making him into a monster. They would have worked to get along with him as they did when he was in power. The Zionists and the National Socialists worked together closely in Germany. Indeed Likud is a straight up Fascism.
Okay then,
For those of you who are beshitting themselves in terror of the coming of the socialism, here’s a bit of comparison between the Dread Redistributionist Bernie and the Benevolent War-Mongering Corporate Whore Hillary.
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2016/01-overflow/Clinton%20vs%20Sanders.jpg
See? Your homework has already been done for you! (Perhaps if due diligence had been done regarding O’blammo’s voting record, rock-ribbed delusions might not have taken hold.)
Now you also know why Bernie hasn’t a chance against the Machine, come convention-time. Who finances the Machine? (By George W., I think the light is beginning to peek through.) Another cog: Have you heard of Diebold? Whazzat? All repaired? Oooooh-kay, color me soothed and trusting.
You’ve straddled the fence for too long. Long have you lingered in the shadowy realms of Marxism and the Internationale. I’m giving you a chance here and now to renounce all that and consciously embrace American National Socialism. Supporting Bernie doesn’t do it since he’s doing the same thing. I remind thee: he’s a hardcore Zionist.
Oh ye of limited vision and imagination, I straddle no fences and trust very few… least of all, vladdie the laddie. I renounce all you pretend to “stand for” and denounce you as paid provocateur.
m’kay? We done?
Absurd. Whites are at the bottom of the totem pole. Who would pay me to advocate for their interests?
Then the checks must be big for you not to care who signs them!
And that totem pole thing. Do you mean rich whites or poor whites, or do you mean some but not all or do you mean all but not some. Which is it! Is the totem pole made out of white pine? If it is then the whole damn totem pole is white and you are spewing nonsense trying to confuse us to some evil end.
You desperately attempt to confuse yourself. Any distraction, anything to keep your anti-White conditioning in place. You must accept the pain if you want to grow. And if you want to grow, you must die to the ugliness that you have inside yourself now.
Here’s an insignificant story about our billionaire, political-fixer heroes, The Koch Bros. (Yeah, I love ’em too; look at all they’ve done for the average Joe and the pristine cleanliness of our environment. Humanitarian softies, I tells ya.)
http://www.npr.org/2016/01/19/463551038/dark-money-delves-into-how-koch-brothers-donations-push-their-political-agenda?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=politics
Don’t worry, everything is on the up and up, transparent and out in the open. Our sla… er, *freedom from the socialist menace* is at hand!
I did skim the article.
NPR is a tool of the One World Gov, with freedom for none.
Koch, Soros, this, that.
With Robotics- Automation , most of todays workers will be unneeded.
Then what?
Okay, subject quashed. Kochs are capitalist heroes and are doing god’s work in the home of the brave opportunists.
Let’s get on to some more pleasant off-topic distractions, such as:
How are your present gambles in “the free market” working out? (Please itemize for clarity.)
So Koch Inc is the enemy?
Having heard much NPR, I know NPR is the enemy of my freedom and of USAs.
You’ve engaged in killing the messenger*; something ridiculously common in authoritarian bootlickers. I do not support National Petroleum Radio, but I know an important story about who runs things and how when I hear it. I suppose it’s going to take some really high anxiety for you to open your mind wide enough to let in some light. (Don’t worry, I won’t help or hinder you; do just as you’re doing while waiting for one of the oligarchs to toss you a crumb.) As you seem to be a supporter of all things vladdie, I’ve got nothing further to discuss with you. Crank on.
*For those reading along, pay attention to this classic thought-stopper; it happens a lot in here.
…and, yes, Koch Inc. is most definitely one of the enemy. If you happen to be their toady, you are one of the enemy as well.
So, how are those “investments” going? Buy the dip and buy BIG.
Where did he say that? Did his criticism of NPR trigger your mindless negativity? Do you have a soft side for those corrupt socialist phonies?
Haha. ‘socialist phonies’ feeding at gov and corporate trough.
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=1237
Nobody gonna comment on the tremendous endorsement Trump received today? I would not be surprised if Trump follows her example and quits the middle of his term, you know, after he finds out it wasn’t as easy to deport immigrants, defeat ISIS, build a wall and have Mexico pay for it, etc.
glad to see you’re on board with the next President’s platform
he won’t quit, it’s not hard to deport immigrants, defeat ISIS and (woopdi doo) build a wall.
the chinese built a 5000 mile wall thousands of years ago
paying for it – i’m sure lots of Americans would volunteer to pay a walltax with a big smile
sounds like you’re really being a sore loser
regarding taxing anything above $1 million at 95%, it’s a great idea to immeditely kill any risk taking and innovation and wealth creation that actually generates tax revenue that your economically illiterate pals think comes from fairy dust
you should be bernie’s economic advisor
look at that evil billionaire bill gates, why he must’ve made thousands of people millionaires, millions of people wealthy to well off, all while vastly improving business productivity, giving millions of people jobs in the computer industry, etc etc etc etc.
yeah, we need to tax him at 95%
fodase
Actually we need to put Bill Gates behind bars, for the crimes he has committed against the computer industry and against computer users.
He uses monopoly power to force people to buy new software they do not want, instead of removing bugs from existing software. MS Word, almost unusable, is an example, as is Excel.
The federal government only wants one major operating system with as many zero point vulnerabilities as possible. This means the only Bars Bill will ever be behind all serve Guinness.
JHK makes an appeal for donations.
Sheesh, I thought he was rich from the lecture circuit.
He mentions how difficult it is for a writer to earn a living ‘these days.’
Add Artists, Photographers [with a billion cameras in phones now]
Architects, and various other professions or jobs to his ‘hard to earn a living’ category.
And this is while the Dollar is still ‘strong.’
He mentions how difficult it is for a writer to earn a living ‘these days.’
Add Artists, Photographers [with a billion cameras in phones now]
Architects, and various other professions or jobs to his ‘hard to earn a living’ category. – Malthuss
===============
Yeah, it’s very hard to ‘monetize’ any kind of intellectual ‘work’. The only thing that gets paid, cash on the barrel head, is grunt-work. In mid December, after the last leaf had finally fallen off my five large oak trees, I paid two Mexicans $200 to clean up my property. Did they pay taxes on it? Not likely. They did a terrific job. If I had done it like in the old days I’d be pushin’ up daisies right now.
Every two weeks the Ukrainian cleaning lady comes and works hard for about 3 hours for $70. She does a terrific job too.
Jim stimulates our minds and improves our vocabularies every week for free.
Ol’ Spidey’s world is being realized. Everyone is going to have to get a government check to survive and take up a hobby to absorb their idle or uncompensated hours.
In the old days, decent Blacks did the nanny, janitor, cabbie work.
I just had a really weird experience-I saw a Latino nanny w a mulatto child walk by.
I am use to the ‘brown nanny w the little yellow prince’ but this was a new one for me.
“Sheesh, I thought he was rich from the lecture circuit.”
Nah. He was never “rich” from the lecture circuit and he’s much too contrarian to be welcome on, e.g., campuses these days, as he’s pointed out somewhere.
Imagine Jim in a panel discussion on micro-aggression!!!
So, send him a few bucks. If subscriptions aren’t your thing, wrap a few bills in note paper, slip them into a small manila envelope and send them on their way to:
James Howard Kunstler
PO Box 193
Saratoga Springs NY 12866 USA
No, wrap the bills in tinfoil to foil the sensing machines.
Foil would probably set off the alarms.
But do be sure to use a fictitious return address, if you worry that contributing to Jimmy “The Radical” Kunstler will get you on one of the NSA’s or CIA’s many lists:
All machinable postal mail is scanned/photographed, front and back, as it goes through the processing equipment.
Really.
Tin foil prevents their rays from penetrating. In the future, tin foil will line headgear in order to protect the brain. Tin Foil hats are a fine idea whose time will come. Many a true word is spoken in jest after all.
“Tin foil prevents their rays from penetrating.”
Well, yes, depending upon the rays . . . but . . .
Do you think a machine attempting to determine the contents of a letter or package and discovering that some material was preventing the scan *wouldn’t* sound the alarm and/or toss the suspect letter or parcel into the “further examination” bin?
Foil and or other forms of Faraday pouches are a good idea for your cellphone, though, especially if you find a convenient way to ground them.
What? Do the sensing machines use black light?
Maybe Kunstler needs to get a real job. His book sales must not be going well or maybe he’s like a lot of others and living beyond his means. I donate time and effort to worthy projects often enough, but I don’t have money to give away. As for me I’m too proud to beg.
“stocks and bonds would not be classified as consumption. Investments in tangible items such as art and real estate WOULD be classified as consumption. ” — Q
In other words, tax spending but not what I spend MY money on… Hypocritre. You cannot even apply conservative values fairly.
Deposits in traditional banks would be considered ‘safe storage.’
Deposits in credit unions would be considered ‘consumption.’
Bwahh hahaha.
Got it. Thanks.
Curious Historical Fact
As director of the CIA, Robert Gates during his visit to Moscow in October 1992, before flying back to the United States, conducted a single-man Victory Parade on the Red Square goose stepping in front of the television cameras, saying: “There, in the square near the Kremlin and the Mausoleum, I perform a single-man Victory Parade”(in the Cold War).
This story was not shown on Russian television – only in the West.
Small problem – Russia never signed the Act of Surrender.
It wasn’t shown anywhere, because it didn’t happen.
Prove me wrong by finding the video, or a reference to the event from a credible source.
Unfortunately, I can’t give you a direct link, since Kunstler server chokes up on Cyrillic, but here is what you do:
you go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Gates
then you change the language to “Russian” (or “Russki” – spelled out in Cyrillic in the left panel of the Wiki page)
then you search for the phrase “Historical Facts” – again, spelled out in Russian Cyrillic, and under that paragraph you will find the story, again in Russian Cyrillic.
If you find the whole exercise a bit too tiresome, you could just give me the fucking benefit of a doubt.
Oh, no, I love to do research, when I’m in the mood.
The only citation in the Wiki article you provide is from a 2011 work by Roy Medvedev.
The only other similar reference I can find anywhere on the Web is in a translation of a work the following year by Roy’s brother, Zohres: Post-Soviet Russia: A Journey Through the Yeltsin Era
Both say that the allegedly filmed “victory march” was shown only in the West, not on state-controlled Russian media.
Strange, then, isn’t it, that there is no mention of it in any English language reference to Gates, and no video appears to exist in any of the usual Western repositories, and that no reporter from either country (or others who were surely present) seems ever to have written about it?
Do any Westerners here remember Gates goose-stepping through Red Square?
Was this a super-secret film, made only for the Medvedev brothers in gratitude for their dissidence during the Soviet era and now locked away in their family vaults?
I’m sorry, Finca, giving you the benefit of doubt just doesn’t seem reasonable at this point. Maybe if you can find more evidence . . .
Good. So, you did find the story on the official, subject to collective editing Wiki page.
I’m glad it helped.
There’s nothing official about Wiki, Finca.
It is, of course, subject to collective editing, which makes it especially difficult to imagine that the much more extensive, and extensively-edited. English entry on Gates doesn’t even hint at the incident (supposedly shown on Western media):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Gates#Director_of_Central_Intelligence
“Curious Historical Fact’
Finc,
Yeah, you’ll find that clip right along with Hitler’s dance at Compiegne….
regarding taxing anything above $1 million at 95%, it’s a great idea to immeditely kill any risk taking and innovation and wealth creation that actually generates tax revenue that your economically illiterate pals think comes from fairy dust == fodase
Ah, you mean the guy who came up with a new innovative algorithm of stock spoofing?
Or the other guy who manages to sell for $750 tablets that he got at $25?
Or the other guy who manages to sell for $750 [tablets]pills that he got at $25?
Jews are crying on Putin’s shoulder over their fate in Europe
Vyacheslav Kantor:
Anti-Semitism in Europe has grown over the last three years, at 40% per year – I am talking about very extreme cases of anti-Semitism, not small things. For example, more Jews have emigrated from the recently safe nation of France than from Ukraine, which is gripped by an internal conflict.
Why are Jews running from a Europe that was recently safe? They are fleeing, as you rightly said, not only because of terrorist attacks against our communities in Toulouse, Brussels, Paris, Copenhagen, and now Marseille, but because of their fear to simply appear in the streets of European cities.
Vladimir Putin:
They should come here, to Russia. We are ready to accept them.
They left the Soviet Union; now they should come back.
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/51184
Jews had a rough, but generally speaking positive relationship with the Russian state: my father, a civil engineer, graduated from Soviet Jewish school (Yiddish language), was a bomber-navigator during WWII, after the war was put in charge of construction of Uranium enrichment plant in Chelyabinsk-40, where he was fired from during the infamous “The Doctors’ plot” in 1952 for no other reason than being a Jew.
He managed to get a good job in Sverdlovsk in 1953 after Stalin’s death .
Have you read Solzhenitsyn’s “Two Hundred Years Together” – positive is putting it very positively in sense of fatuously. He actually talks about the Jewish pogroms against Russians.
Why aren’t you working to get it translated into English? You could be the man of destiny to do it – or are you still too tribal, too indifferent or even hostile to the objective Truth.
I have not participated in pogroms, nor was I subject of them.
Regarding Solzhenitsyn: his stories make for a fascinating reading, but, personally, most of them are full of it – he definitely liked to spice things up.
He’s a moral giant. You are a pygmy in comparison.
There were about 1.6 million Jews living in the EU in 2014. In the same year, about 8,600 of them made Aliyah. That’s about half of one percent.
Although there was certainly an increase in Jewish emigration from Europe over the previous year, the numbers aren’t all that different when compared over a longer recent period, during which, in some years, they were significantly higher.
And the vast majority came from France & Italy, where it is likely that economic issues were at least as important a factor as antisemitic hostility and attacks — Israel’s economy has just been doing much better than France and southern Europe
The leader of the pack, in percentage terms, is, hands-down, Ukraine, where ten percent of the Jewish population is estimated to have departed, according to Israeli figures. Seems like a low percentage to me, with Svoboda and worse roaming the streets and the US now supplying funds for training the charming Azov Battalion.
I actually agree with Putin on this. Except for very observant Jews (a minority), most Ukrainians would find Russian culture much more familiar and comfortable than that in Israel.
When in 1941 the Nazi army was approaching Kharkov were my grandparents lived at the time, the majority of the local Jews thought that all stories about Nazi atrocities were communist propaganda and preferred to stay – of course, Jews had to be smarter than anybody else…
My grandparents left for Siberia with retreating Soviet troops and lived, which I can’t say about 99% of those who stayed behind.
“My grandparents left for Siberia with retreating Soviet troops and lived, which I can’t say about 99% of those who stayed behind.”
At least 99%. Any number of sources say that the Nazis left *no* Jews alive in Kharkov.
And the Nazi spirit still flourishes in Kharkov, and even more vigorously in the far west of Ukraine, today:
https://02varvara.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/00-uniate-azov-battalion-nazis-22-01-15.jpg
And, now, these charming fellows can receive U.S. funding:
= = = =
Congress Has Removed a Ban on Funding Neo-Nazis From Its Year-End Spending Bill
Under pressure from the Pentagon, Congress has stripped the spending bill of an amendment that prevented funds from falling into the hands of Ukrainian neo-fascist groups.
http://www.thenation.com/?ssearch=azov&post_type=article
As Ernst Zundel said, the Jews are a tragic people, always causing immense suffering to themselves and those around them. What on Earth – other than hatred of Whites and Western Culture – possessed them to throw their weight behind mass Muslim immigration to Europe? That it wouldn’t work out too well for them was not hard to predict after all. All that genius is useless if you are too full of hatred to use it.
DOW down 563.
One of these days (today??) it’s not going to recover in mid-day and it’ll be negative 1000 at the close.
It is up a bit. 15700 or so?
Crude Oil – Electronic (NYMEX) Feb 2016 just traded for less than $27/bb, at $26.43.
$20 oil is just around the corner. The Obama recession has begun.
This is from JHK’s Patreon Page:
The Situation
Writing is my livelihood. It has always been a tough racket. I get a lot of letters from young, struggling writers asking for advice. My main message to them has been that talent counts, but perseverance counts more. You really have to hang in there against pretty tough odds. After all, you’re producing work that nobody asked for.
===============
This is how Q. imagines the above paragraph originally ended:
………..Sooooo, as you might have guessed, what I am REALLY saying is “forget writing…….take up plumbing.”
Mr. Q, I hope you are not suggesting that Mr. Kunstler could do your yard cleaning job for his $200 tip. Just get out your checkbook.
WE ALL PREFER CASH, NOW.
JHK had mentioned expensive purple potatoes at the Farmers Market.
He should start planting.
As the richest man on Clusterfuck, as you have never ceased to remind us, you have a clear and present duty. Now make the pledge.
I hope Trump chooses Sara Palin as his VP running mate. They make a nice couple. The only problem I see is that Palin is a Christian and might have a problem with Trump wanting to bang his daughter. But maybe not. The Palin clan does its share of banging and beating on each other.
“We aren’t surprised that Sarah Palin gobbled up all the glory of standing in the spotlight again, imagining she is still Moose Queen USA. That’s our Sarah. But we are surprised that Donald Trump and his ego stood there silently for a full 20 minutes without rolling his eyes, telling her to shut her stupid “persona,” or calling in his security to drag the screaming crazy lady away so she could sleep it off somewhere and give him back his mic and his spotlight. That, truly, was a sight to behold.”
http://wonkette.com/598034/how-drunk-was-sarah-palin-on-a-scale-of-burp-to-in-jail-with-her-son-track
La Palin is the ultimate open minded pc lib. A jungleballer, Glenn Rice, claims he was up in AK for some kind of college tournament….and the young sports reporter pulled a train for the whole team of mostly afros. A real hysterical meth nympho who likes to take a lot of dick…..takes a plugging and keeps on fugging……
Integrated Muslim kids on Germans: Disgusting pork eating outsiders no one would miss. In other words, Muslims don’t assimilate. Dumb greasers much like our own.
http://www.dailystormer.com/germany-has-a-long-history-of-successfully-integrating-moslems/
“Parallel events could rock the Democratic side. I expect Hillary to exit the race one way or another before April. She comes off the shelf like a defective product that never should have made it through quality control. ”
And there was Hillary on NPR with Ira Shapiro, using all the well worn cliches that have set voters off of the establishment; “hard working immigrants”…. blah, blah, “this email ‘situation’ (yes, situation) is another attempt…” blah blah blah… during my candidacy… blah, right wing conspiracy, blah, blah…
Her voice is beginning to carry that old lady raspiness… metallic and tinny she warbles like Frank Deford with goosebumps. Then her laugh track. Thrown it awkwardly, trying and hoping that her interlocutor understands it as a wink, as in please move on, we both know this is ridiculous…
Despite the official anti-Russian rhetoric, Obama and Putin are actively cooperating and has already developed a common position on four major issues of world politics: Ukraine, Syria, Saudi-Iranian conflict, and North Korea.
What does Obama hope to convey through this rare gesture of phoning up Putin amidst the Russian New Year festivities? Indeed, he felt it prudent on second thoughts not to cause annoyance to Moscow at a juncture when the US badly needs Russia’s cooperation to tackle a host of regional issues. In sum, he has hastened to correct the impression he put forth in his 2016 State of the Union Address on Tuesday regarding Russia as a pernicious entity in the international system. Obama signaled the following:
The US is no longer playing a behind-the-scenes role of inciting its proxy government in Kiev to drag its feet on the full implementation of the Minsk agreement (which is a precondition for the West to lift sanctions against Russia).
The US stance does “see Syria fundamentally very similarly” with Russia – to use Secretary of State John Kerry’s words – and the two countries need to work together in resolving the conflict. Kerry was, perhaps, more explicit after his talks in the Kremlin on December 20: “We (US) are not trying to do a regime change. We are not engaged in a colour revolution”.
The US will not take sides in the Saudi-Iran rift; nor is it seeking to take advantage of a flare-up in sectarian strife in the Muslim Middle East.
The US recognizes that Russia’s cooperation is necessary and useful to pursue a “strong and united international response” to the North Korean regime.
http://atimes.com/2016/01/obama-changes-tack-on-russia-calls-up-putin/
I expect Hillary to exit the race one way or another before April == Frankiti
The danger of nuclear war is waning and the War Party becomes the party of economic crisis, as its leader, who for personal reasons was thirsting to view exploding thermonuclear charge of 50 megatons over Washington, missed the wave and the Big Boys stopped supporting her in that little whim.
“the War Party becomes the party of economic crisis” –Finca
Yes, wealth inequality is Bernie’s area of strength, which is why Bernie is beating both Trump and Hillary in polls.
Feeling the Bern is a political movement, contining the Occupy Wall Street energy, and Bernie’s revolution will continue beyond January 2017, when America’s first Jewish socialist president takes office.
They said a Senator named Barack Hussein Obama was unelectable. Now they are saying the same, that he is unelectable, about Bernie Sanders. The Millenials are the future and the Millenials (and a few aging Boomers) are supporting Bernie.
first Jewish National Socialist president takes office…
He shouldn’t have said that damned phrase – “Enough about those damned emails”, he knew perfectly well it was not about emails.
$200 a barrel oil (maybe $500) predicted by JHK:
“There are also new rumbles about Saudi Arabia’s shaky situation with its Ghawar oil field, which gives ominous signs of entering a far steeper and more sudden decline / crash than previously imagined by many observers. A similar picture is resolving with Mexico’s dominant Cantarell oil field. Yet another interesting problem all over the map is that oil exporting nations are seeing their internal consumption increase even while reserves and daily production decline, and the net effect is a lot less oil for export. I would take these signals as reason to think the price of oil will pass $100 a barrel before the end of 2006. Of course, Iran could stir that pot without a whole lot of trouble and take the price to $200, or maybe $500.” (August 7, 2006)
Because “peak oil” … remember “peak oil”?
It is almost quaint now. How did that happen? Throwing money at the problem. Sometimes it does work.
“There’s nothing official about Wiki, Finca” — Doug
From now on I expect you, Doug, and Mr.Darling to stop quoting ZeroHedge.
That should be Doug, Mr. Darling, and Ozone. They do the work of stenographers/mimeographs, like Janos with stormfront/dailystormer…
So we can continue to read Zero Hedge and Dailystormer articles, and JHK’s Monday morning jewels, let’s all send JHK some money, either through the web page, or the old-fashioned way directly to his PO Box:
James Howard Kunstler
PO Box 193
Saratoga Springs NY 12866 USA
The same schleppers post on Zero-Hedge, a website seemingly devoted to “Why the world is ending in one chart” stories”. You can go back and read years of chart based stories on how the world ended. Funny stuff. On a long enough timeline they might get something right.
You’ll have a hard time finding me quoting ZeroHedge, although I do enjoy reading it, some days.
I also read The Guaridan, The Torygraph, The Independent, RT, Paul Craig Roberts, Marx, Odum, The World Socialist Web Site, Glenn Greenwald, Justin Raimondo, Forbes, and on and on and on.
You’re going to have a lot harder time fitting me into one of your preconceived categories than you think.
And there’s still nothing official about Wiki and I’ve still not seen the slightest credible evidence that Gates goose-stepped through Red Square. I also haven’t seen him frog marched into the International Criminal Court to face war crimes charges, but I’d very much enjoy watching that.
Hell-ooo Doug!
Regarding the use of Wikipedia, I have a comment: I was the sort of child that got encyclopedia sets on his birthdays, and one of the things that irritated me about them was the long list of corrections and retractions that would get published upon the arrival of a new edition. The point here is that these very respectable paper-media references were also error-prone. They were not perfect.
Now, of course I wouldn’t use a wiki-article reference in a graduate/post-graduate or professional setting – but Wikipedia material does undergo a continuous quality-control process and they do cite their sources properly. That ranks it a step above ‘hearsay’ & the ramblings of B-list ‘news’-weeklies, and therefore it can be used to begin establishing a claim of some sort.
Just to be clear: I’m not elevating it to the level of the ‘scholastic’, but I am saying it has it’s place in the realm of informal online work-groups and presentations.
Cheers!
@MD
We are in near-total agreement.
To understand why I said that, you have to scroll back up to an exchange with Finca, in which he claimed that Robert Gates, in 1992, performed a solo “cold war victory march” by goose-stepping across Red Square — and that it was filmed but shown only to Western audiences.
I challenged him and he referred me to a Russian language Wiki entry that included the claim with a reference to a 2011 piece by Roy Medvedev. I tried to research it further and was only able to find one other reference — in a book by Medvedev’s brother the following year.
Somewhere in the course of the exchange, Finca posted:
“Good. So, you did find the story on the official, subject to collective editing Wiki page.”
http://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/worse-than-1860/#comment-258782
I also issued a call for reports from any others who might have knowledge of the despicable Gates engaged in his one-man parade, but have, as yet, received no responses.
@ Doug:
I followed that exchange and I do understand why you said that. There is no conflict. My post was in support an clarification. I think that we’d be hurting ourselves if we refused to accept Wikipedia references as a starting point for more serious conversations.
Regarding the screen-name you were engaging, don’t you find it *odd* that ‘his’ posts are so similar in type, timing and overall tone to the other high-volume poster?
LOL!
😉
I mean who else has the time to pelt CFN with that much chatter? Do you think that a hardworking ‘fincador’ purportedly living on an ‘island off the coast of S. America’ would have the interest, free-time and band-width?
😉
Well, you know, finca can refer to an “estate” as well as to a simple farm.
Perhaps our friend is a patron of considerable means — and strange predilections. ;^)
DOW down 563 — Mr. Q
Dow up 314 from down 563! – Finca
The managed process of deflating bubbles on the American Stock Exchanges — Finca
I hope they are not forgetting to make little something for themselves.
Ah, you mean the guy who came up with a new innovative algorithm of stock spoofing?
Or the other guy who manages to sell for $750 tablets that he got at $25?
maybe henry ford, who gave millions of people the ability to buy automobiles
or the inventors of multitudes of products that make modernity possible.
yeah, let’s tax them all at 95% because some people gouge.
great logic.
can’t wait to see your economy bloom with that in place.
why not cap salaries at 50,000 per year, and tax everything above that at 95%? no one needs more than 50,000 a year.
that’s what wpa_ccc will set it at, because he knows best.
like lenin and stalin said as they walked away arm in arm from the smouldering economic and societal ruins of what was the USSR…
“ah, it was just an idea”
“no one needs more than 50,000 a year.” –fodase
My proposal was to tax at 95% any personal income over $1 million a year. My hypothesis is that even the rich can manage to survive on $1 million a year, if they know how to budget and choose their toys carefully. I definitely want to put a cap on toys.
With a 95% tax on personal income over $1 million, we level out incomes at a maximum of $1 million and have funding for building infrastructure, providing better healthcare, education, housing, etc. It is what Article I Section 8 of the Constitution provides for: that no one should starve, freeze to death homeless, live with treatable disease. Of course, the Constitution encapulates all that in five words.
I wonder about the impact of Brazil utterly failing to pull off the Olympics 6 months from now. They are sooooooo fucked up.
Opinion from Fodase would be welcomed.
brazil will pull it off, everyone thought the 2014 world soccer cup would be a disaster, they pulled it off
that said, some of the 2014 world cup projects are nearing completion (yes, the 2014 world cup projects that were never finished even though the cup went well)
still, brazil is soooooooo fucked up it’s beyond belief. just stoopid, really stoopid and corrupt people.
great example is sao paulo (pop. 20 million) literally running out of water. politicians came on tv saying there’d be no rationing!
they knew 10 years ago they’d run out of water but did nothing besides say everything was alright.
how the hell do you let 20 million people run out of water? easy, your great cushy all-expenses-paid politician’s life means it doesn’t exist for you, screw the population
PolitiFact concedes that the Sanders campaign has data to back up its claim that 10% of the Pentagon budget goes to fighting terrorism:
“Sanders’ campaign has used this talking point before, and shared the math with us. They cited more than $600 billion in defense spending, saying only $5.5 billion has gone to fighting ISIS and around $42 billion has gone to operations in Afghanistan, much of which is used to fight al-Qaida.”
In all, they said the government has spent about 7.9 percent of the defense budget on fighting terrorism. But, PolitiFact argues, “that’s a very narrow view of how the defense budget works.”
PolitiFact then offers a different calculation than the Sanders campaign, and comes up with “a bit more than 9 percent.” Quick students of arithmetic will already have noted that “a bit more than 9 percent” is still “less than 10 percent.”
With a 95% tax on personal income over $1 million, we level out incomes at a maximum of $1 million and have funding for building infrastructure, providing better healthcare, education, housing, etc.
uh, where do you ‘get funding’ when no one will bother to generate more than $1 million in income?
capping at $1 mill kills everyone’s job who actually had a job because their employer was making more than $1 million and could hire people
so now they’re out of work.
are you going to ‘get funding’ from them?
another perfect economic illiterate, you should run for mayor or governor of some dnc stronghold where people think money is just there for the taking and have no clue about wealth creation
talk about kooksy
fodase, we are talking about 0.1% of the population. The other 99.9% continue to pay normal tax rates and generate tax revenues. (You have to make $434,682 in adjusted gross income to be in the top 1%, according to the non-partisan Tax Foundation.)
So, the number of people who would be hit by the 95% tax rate is very, very small, one tenth of 1% of those who pay income taxes. Don’t fret that all creativity, innovation, and job creation will grind to a halt. It won’t. These figures have been vetted by wpa-ccc.
There also should be a tax on stock market speculation to make education free. Bernie has legislation to pay for free education:
“This legislation is offset by imposing a Wall Street speculation fee on investment houses, hedge funds, and other speculators of 0.5% on stock trades (50 cents for every $100 worth of stock), a 0.1% fee on bonds, and a 0.005% fee on derivatives. It has been estimated that this provision could raise hundreds of billions a year which could be used not only to make tuition free at public colleges and universities in this country, it could also be used to create millions of jobs and rebuild the middle class of this country.” –Bernie Sanders
“capping at $1 mill kills everyone’s job who actually had a job because their employer was making more than $1 million and could hire people ”
Fodase,
Explain why this didn’t happen in the early ’50’s when the top rate was 93%…was it that magic 2% that proved unpalatable?
“Explain why this didn’t happen in the early ’50’s when the top rate was 93%…was it that magic 2% that proved unpalatable?”
Almost exactly. Except:
(Starting with 1955, the first year “married filing jointly” is a separate category — it’s in the fist columns in the charts, so the easiest to track visually)
1955 $400K and over 91%
1956 ” ”
1957 ” ”
1958 ” ”
1959 ” ”
1960 ” ”
1961 ” ”
1962 ” ”
1963 ” ”
1964 ” 77%
1965 ” 70%
1966 $200K and over 70%
1967 ” ”
1968 ” ”
1969 ” ”
1970 ” ”
1971 ” ”
1972 ” ”
1973 ” ”
1974 ” ”
1975 ” ”
1976 ” ”
1977 $203,200 plus ”
1978 ” ”
1979 $215,400 plus ”
1980 ” ” (Reagan elected)
1981 ” ”
1982 $85,600 plus 50.0%
And so it goes until . . .
2012 $388,350 plus 35.0%
And then, as a result of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (which set in stone the Bush reductions for rich folks)
2013 $450,000 plus 39.6%
Of course, that doesn’t account for inflation, but that’s just simple math.
Add a hefty wealth tax and a positively confiscatory estate tax (say 100% of everything over $2-5 million) and we’d not only be able to deal with basic inequities, we could also start to reduce the influence of the oligarchy on our governments.
And for those of you who firmly believe that we’d have no progress or “job creation” without the incentive of obscene wealth and power, you just need to learn that, unlike yourselves, many people (probably a majority) have other reasons to work, create, cultivate, repair . . . healthier and more wholesome reasons, in fact.
During the coming administration Doug will be the decider of what constitutes a good valid healthier and more wholesome reason to work and you can be sure it won’t be for money. OMG, the chutzpah!
He’s douging our collective grave.
Matthew MacWilliams sampled 1,800 voters across the country and discovered, that a “single statistically significant variable predicts whether a voter supports Trump—and it’s not race, income or education levels: It’s authoritarianism..”
What does he mean by “authoritarianism”?
Authoritarianism is not a new, untested concept in the American electorate. Since the rise of Nazi Germany, it has been one of the most widely studied ideas in social science. While its causes are still debated, the political behavior of authoritarians is not. Authoritarians obey. They rally to and follow strong leaders. And they respond aggressively to outsiders, especially when they feel threatened. From pledging to “make America great again” by building a wall on the border to promising to close mosques and ban Muslims from visiting the United States, Trump is playing directly to authoritarian inclinations.
Let’s pretend Trump can drop a fist and have the gigantic facilities needed to create Apple’s products in the USA up and running in time for the iPhone 8.
And hey, the production of these factories will have created tens of thousands of jobs in America, so we’re already ahead of the game.
A few people did some very loose math, and it determined that the end-user cost of an iPhone built in the U.S. as opposed to abroad in China would be about $1,300, or twice what it is today.
That estimate is wildly conservative. It’s based on factory laborers working at minimum wage for eight hours a day, five days a week. Sadly, it doesn’t take into account the added cost of running a facility like this in the U.S. Or the added labor Apple would need if workers were to only have eight-hour shifts. Or of shipping materials and components to the U.S. instead of China and Brazil. Or a dozen other things.
Long story short, pretty much no one would be able to afford Trump’s magnificent U.S.-made iPhone. But since when is anything Trump says rooted in reality?
You are such a phony turd. The apple crap trinkets are made with child labor, slave labor, sweatshop labor….ALL THE PRACTICES BANNED IN CIVILIZED SOCIETIES…..through subs of course to provide a little plausible deniability so you libs need not feel any guilt while watching gay porn on your i-crap. The subs have installed barriers on the roofs of their toxic plants so the 13 year olds can’t escape by jumping off, as so many sought relief through death.
You use anything from any of these corporations?
http://www.jiesworld.com/international_corporations_in_china.htm
“let him who is without sin cast the first stone” John 8:7 KJV
Are you talking about Hemingway?–BRH
Are you suicidal? And attracted to young girls as a desperate alternative? Or are you not White too? Or not an aging White male?–Janos.
According to Dr. Carl Clark, white men over 65 have three times the suicide rate of any other group and eight times the suicide rate of women over 65.
And Colorado State University psychology professor Silvia Sara Canetto asserts:
“…Still, older white men tend to end their own lives despite bearing fewer of the burdens that come with aging.
For instance, they are less likely to experience widowhood and have better physical health and fewer disabilities than older women. They also have more economic resources than ethnic minority older men, and than older women across ethnicities, according to Canetto.
But white men may be less psychologically equipped to deal with the normal challenges of aging, likely because of their privilege up until late adulthood, she said.
A white man’s “psychological brittleness and vulnerability” to suicide make them vulnerable to a masculine outlook that implicitly justifies, and even glorifies, suicide among men, Canetto said”
So you are dealing with your suicidal tendencies, I ask again. Or are you not White? Aging? Male? Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.
‘White [fixed that] men may be less psychologically equipped to deal with the normal challenges of aging, likely because of their privilege up until late adulthood, she said.
And what Privilege is that? And why did it evaporate?
Are YOU privileged?
Loneliness is what kills them.
I think it’s got to do with running out of lead in your pencil and realizing oysters don’t actually work. There goes your raison d’etre ……. unless you’re Janos and have the N-words, Jews and Mexicans to give your life meaning.
That’s just more of your whitesplaining, Q. Your denial of your racism is just confirmation of it. On the other hand, my proud admission of it is simply normal and natural. All racists, of whatever color, understand each other. But you want to be the white thing under the rock. So be it.
https://uk.celebrity.yahoo.com/post/137692534784/sam-smith-accused-of-whitesplaining-racism?src=rss
Palin is poison in a general election setting. But for the GOP primary, she’s perfect.
In other words, after she’s served her purpose she will be fired by “The Donald”.
I obviously posted the Palin comment in the wrong place. Anyway, so far I don’t feel suicidal. But as the wise man said, ‘never say never’. I suppose I sort of feel obligated to see it thru as it were. Even when I metaphorically feel like “A Man Called Horse” hanging high above the ground by eagle talons piercing the pectoralis major muscle group.
Personally, no ‘lead in the pencil’ doesn’t seem like a very good reason to commit suicide. If it’s that important to a man they could surely seek medical assistance and even shoot some medicine into Johnson Flaccid if worse comes to worse.
As far as “white privilege”, I’m sure Janos would agree. Of course not for the same reasons. Janos would claim innate intelligence advantages for whites while the above sources would cite ‘economic determinism’ etc.
I think Seawolf hit the bulls eye.
Good stuff Q – Buck
=============
Thanks for the kind words Buck. If I can ever figure out how to do it I’ll be posting up some pics.
I can’t wait….
“On the Wednesday, January 20 worldwide broadcast of the Alex Jones Show, we’ll look at the rigged stock market plummeting along with oil prices, as economists warn of a global wave of epic debt defaults. On today’s show, we’ll also air our powerful sit-down interview with the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, in which the Nation of Islam leader speaks out on varied topics, such as Donald Trump’s comments on Muslims, the contrived race war, the brutal takedown of Libyan Col. Muammar Gadhafi at the hands of Hillary Clinton and a whole lot more. Tell your friends and family to tune in from 11am to 3pm as Infowars attempts to break the establishment’s conditioning.”
@ FitM;
RE | “Since all transportation indexes reflect the price of shipping in US dollars (not the volume), how much the price of oil that has fallen almost 3 times could reflect on such index?”-f.
You seem to be a little confused about the Baltic Dry Index and where it fits in as a useful statistic. Luckily, _Business Insider_ (and many other well-known publications) lay it all out for us:
http://www.businessinsider.com/people-afraid-zombie-ships-first-sign-of-global-economic-collapse-2016-1
Take-Away Quote: “If you’ve got more ships than there are cargos, then freight rates are going to be weak – it’s that simple.”
Yep, that’s the beauty of using shipping stats to cross-reference other market indicators. Shipping stats are hard to game and the people compiling them have little interest in gaming them. Transportation people tend to be a hard-boiled lot, after all. That’s why I’ve been using them to cut through the financialized fog for 20 years.
But this is article is interesting in more than one way: we are now at that juicy juncture in the death of a regime when a lot of FREE STUFF can be had for a little skillful work – if one is so inclined. As Viktor Bout’s dramatized facsimile put it so well (while standing in a Red Army depot in Ukraine: “The people who know don’t care, and the people who care don’t know!”
Bottom-line is this: a lot of property is getting *abandoned* because the ‘owners’ can’t make payments on it. This trend will grow. Right now there’s a little ‘golden gap’ between the market system failing and the public panicking. But they will – when the stores they rely on ‘stock out’ of basic staples and paychecks stop.
But then again, we’ve seen something like this happen before, have we not?
😉
Cheers!
Right now there’s a little ‘golden gap’ between the market system failing and the public panicking
You seem to be thoroughly avoiding my question: how the fuel price affects the shipping indices, without missing the opportunity to push the collapse agenda.
Luckily, wikinvest clarifies the mystery for us:
Bunker Prices – Bunker fuel is a type of fuel oil a ship uses for propulsion. Bunker fuel accounts for between a quarter and a third of vessel operating costs. Lower crude oil prices also mean lower bunker fuel prices which will be reflected in lower BDI prices.
http://www.wikinvest.com/index/Baltic_Dry_Index_-_BDI_(BALDRY)
Financial crisis mechanism of expropriation has been created and was ready for use, but because of its potential immense power banksters themselves could not allow the victory of each other in the fight for this lever.
Almost all of the new century was spent on ongoing war between bankster coalitions for access to the levers of the FED, or at least prevent the most predatory of them to those levers, while the rest were busy creating an alternative in the form of the BRICS Bank with its “paper gold” instead of the dollar.
And then, frightened by that new IMF, urgently created an alternative to that alternative in form of ABII in support of “external dollar”.
By the way, the American famous maxim “boundless freedom, limited by freedom of others”, is more accurately translated as “boundless greed, limited by greed of others”.
This is the formula of the American success, but it also explains the failure of the most powerful financial and political system to achieve the world domination.
And even if in the Kremlin and the White House all political niches are occupied by agents of influence of the banksters coalitions, they will still push to the center politicians symbolizing the survival instinct of the entire elite. They themselves can’t cope with their own boundless greed on a daily basis, and with similar boundless greed of their competitors, so they delegate the power to politician associated with intelligence services, such as George Bush Sr. and his sons in US or Putin in Russia.
“pretty much no one would be able to afford Trump’s magnificent U.S.-made iPhone” – wpa
Unfortunately, I have to agree with wpa on that. No matter how paradoxical it may sound, the industrial capital tends to destroy more jobs than it could create due to necessary increased levels of automation.
May be we should revisit the results of dot-com boom of the 90s, when along with purely negative consequences of over-production of money due to unlimited greed of banksters and politicians associated with them, the finance capital managed to create practically unlimited number of well-paying jobs in Informational Superhighway project and around it and achieve unprecedented levels of prosperity, even if just for one short decade.
It is true that more than 99% of those projects turned out to be “blanks”, but even 1% of successful projects managed to bring the humanity on qualitatively new level of development.
For a saloon hooker, Miss Kitty gave Marshal Dillon a lot of sound advice even though she made many bad decisions in her own life.
Miss Kitty was a proto-feminist.
Pucker,
Actually, Miss Kitty was in management….
http://www.dailystormer.com/ted-cruzs-wife-heidi-on-task-force-which-wrote-building-a-north-american-community-report-aimed-at-abolishing-america/
Don’t vote for Ted unless your name is Doug or you are intent on digging our grave.
Got a snowstorm coming.
Wait and See. If there is a precipitous drop in the markets today, it will be blamed on the snowstorm.
Lot of reassuring voices amongst the ‘experts’ in the business media on the markets “a unique buying opportunity”, “don’t sell now”, “ride it out”, you get the picture, more like shills than experts giving sound advice.
brh
“dollar vacuum cleaner will work to full capacity” == me
It appears that US Party of War having failed to start a decent conflict between Russia and Ukraine or Russia and Turkey, has decided to hook Russian Ruble not to a vacuum cleaner, but to a full-blown mega-tornado.
http://www.weathersnapshot.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/322.jpg
Most danger is presented to multiple Moscow-based comprador https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprador businesses – tourism, clothing and food imports, auto imports.
They are sacrificing their main anti-Putin base in Russia.
No one really likes her and no one really trusts her. Same problem Al Gore had. Life is ultimately a popularity contest. Completely arbitrary and capricious. Imagine 8 years of Gore instead of 8 years of Bush. What would this world look like now?
How is trustworthiness and likability capricious? Perhaps if someone said they didn’t like Fred Rogers or mistrusted the Dalai Lama we could call into question their reasoning, but when you are talking about 2 career politicians with documented character flaws and misdeeds littering their wake, well, really?
It’s not a popularity contest, it’s an accountability contest
fodase, we are talking about 0.1% of the population.
the million-job killing effect in bill gate’s case still holds.
with all the associated loss in tax revenues that you now can’t get from millions of folks in the other 99.5% you magically continue to milk taxes from
bottom line reality:
he gets rich, millions get wealthy, rich, much better off, better off, and financially self-sufficient along with him, in that order
hell, he even made your beloved gov’t much more efficient with his software
get real
The greatest mystery and the greatest threat to humanity
That is, if the Chinese will find out that rice is just a side dish…
@ “FitM”:
RE | “You seem to be thoroughly avoiding my question: how the fuel price affects the shipping indices, without missing the opportunity to push the collapse agenda”-f.
The reason I didn’t address the issue of fuel price is because it’s not the root cause of shipping activity flat-lining, loss of demand is. The fact that fuel prices are cheaper than dirt and shipping activity continues to drop only reinforces that conclusion – which is shared by industry leaders (re: Maersk, etc.). You’d know that it you read at least halfway through the article.
I gave ‘you’ the benefit of the doubt and engaged you in good faith, but I’ve noticed that you drop the ‘Russian-first-language-speaker’ subterfuge when we start locking horns. As a matter of fact, you start sounding and ‘reasoning’ exactly like another time-waster on CFN, and I’ll have nothing to do with that.
Tah!
I am convinced there are multiple avatars here. It’s the Phil Hendrie Show in here… not sure who is the real straight man though.
China has dealt a significant blow to the United States devaluating Yuan by 15%, which contributed to strengthening of US Dollar and the falling oil price.
Few hours ago, China announced that it will no longer devalue Yuan, which could likely mean a concession to the US on a number of issues, including the refusal to support the policy of oil dumping pursued by Saudi Arabia.
http://www.afr.com/markets/equity-markets/china-willing-to-do-more-to-bolster-equities-no-plan-to-devalue-yuan-20160121-gmbg1p
Cautiously expecting the DOW to rise through the end of the week
“you drop the ‘Russian-first-language-speaker’ subterfuge” — MD
Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 in English:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP06F0yynic
Same in Russian:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR2tlcvVZcA
I always was convinced that in Russian translation Shakespeare sounds better than in original…
This is old news by now but I can’t let it pass without mention. Have you heard the actual words, the ‘sentences” used by Sarah Palin to endorse Trump. If not, take a look here.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/21/opinion/palin-trump-cruz-and-corn.html?ref=opinion&_r=1
Given his own rhetorical gifts, Trump may be the only human outside the Palin household who could understand what this woman is talking about. I mean, sure, she has great facial bone structure, she IS pretty, but what a scatter-brained airhead! What the hell was McCain THINKING?
Q,
What I saw of the taped endorsement horrified me… Palin’s rant was incoherent.
Tits? Check! Fogs a mirror? Check! Has an ‘R’ next to her name? Check!
Commencing countdown, engines on.
Seeking, and obtaining, the endorsement of Palin, McCain’s herpetic contribution to American politics, is easily his stupidest move yet. She’s worthless.
As a running mate – yeah. As a cheerleader? Formidable.
Fodase,
Explain why this didn’t happen in the early ’50’s when the top rate was 93%…was it that magic 2% that proved unpalatable?
you can bet that virtually no income was taxed at 93% because the wealthy folks’ tax attorneys knew how to avoid it.
you are a major league fool to believe that the very rich paid 93% income tax while creating gargantuan industries and turning the US into the powerhouse it still is. that they generated billions and billions in profits and sent 93% to uncle sam willingly.
fairy tale thinking
it’s great to see folks who know exactly how much is enough for everyone, above which everything should be confiscated.
some people have the gift of making money for themselves while making lots of people lots of money in the process
you’d love to quash that and condemn everyone to equal misery
please stay away from politics, we need to reward winners, not more irs dolt types
He doesn’t even believe in the nation state. So what does he want to replace it with? The Hunting Band? The Tribe? The Chiefdom? Crickets.
He is no doubt a secret globalist. A Davos Devotee.
fodase, et al,
Major league fool
Fairy tale thinking
everything should be confiscated
love to quash and condemn
Irs dolt types
Doesn’t believe in nation state
Secret globalist
Davos Devotee
WTF? You opine that 95% taxation would have existential consequences, I pointed out that we have been there before, without the predicted drama. My post was without comment, endorsement, nor qualification…just a historical fact presented as a counterpoint.
You, and Skorenzy must be talented hieromancers to divine such personality flaws from the weak tea leaves I offered. The great majority of my posts are asides… informational or whimsical… counterpoint or corroborative, often with historical references…neither of you should take offense…you really don’t know what I believe, and, inshallah, neither does the NSA.
This might be a good course for Hillary Clinton to take?
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2016/01/13/hillary_clintons_coming_legal_crisis_129293.html
“Cybersecurity, which can be defined as protecting a person against the unauthorized use of information, which is created, received, maintained or transmitted electronically and the related offensive and defensive measures, is integral to every facet of global transactions and communications. Lawyers have a legal duty to be familiar with technology in a variety of situations – from e-discovery, to interpreting laws and advising clients. The purpose of this webinar is to provide the essentials of cybersecurity. Specifically, agency requirements, e-discovery, standards, requisite contracts and laws will all be addressed. By the end of the webinar, the participants should have an enhanced understanding of this emerging area. Learn more / Register online…
Key Topics:
Cybersecurity – what is it?
Cybersecurity and discovery
US and International standards
Various laws and agency regulations/initiatives, including but not limited to HIPAA, the FTC, the SEC, SOX and GLBA
Areas of vulnerability
Mitigating risk”
1. A Texas woman (big hair, twangy voice), owner of an oil field supply company, interviewed on CNBC today described the situation for the past year “catastrophic.” Sales down 90%. Oil field workers, the sons of oil field workers, know nothing else and they’re losing their jobs.
2. David Stockman (see Contra Corner blog) who tears the pundits on “bubblevision” (his name for CNBC) a new asshole almost daily appeared on that show today and delivered a non-stop rant on the dire financial condition of the entire globe.
“Oil field workers, the sons of oil field workers, know nothing else and they’re losing their jobs.” –Q
Cry me a river. They “know nothing else” … give me a break. Anyone stupid enough not to have seen we are transitioning away from fossil fuels to alternative energy deserves to lose their jobs.
Oil field workers make over $100,000 a year. If they haven’t set aside any savings or pension money in all their years of high earnings, they are irresponsible. They can sell one of their Ford F-350s… they won’t starve. If they get desperate, they will be applying for unemployment benefits, food stamps, welfare, etc. We have a social safety net for people who lose their jobs and need to transition, though the Republicans want to destroy all entitlements and all humane public assistance.
They can sell one of their Ford F-350s… – wpa
=============
To whom?
To non-oil field industry workers. Houston is full of ’em and they love Ford F-350s.
“David Stockman delivered a non-stop rant on the dire financial condition of the entire globe.” — Q
And you believe him? The kind of month we’ve just experienced in the stock market is something that, on average, occurs about once every two and a half years. The history of the stock market makes two points clear: 1) Volatility is normal. 2) Waiting it out pays off.
If you believe Stockman, you should be in full panic mode right now, ignoring history completely. We have good historical stock market data going back to 1871 which says we should not panic. Chill out, Q. Rants change nothing.
The kind of month we’ve just experienced in the stock market is something that, on average, occurs about once every two and a half years. – wpa
==================
After the crash and the great depression it took the DOW 25 years (till 1954) to regain its 1929 high point. In the long run we are all dead.
But, with your cheery temperament, you should take some of that bundle out of the credit union and “buy the dip.”
Chill out, Q. – wpa
==========
I’m already chilled, I went 75% into cash last March. Now I’m in vindication mode.
President Putin ‘probably’ approved Litvinenko murder
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35370819
Putin renewed accusations of poisoning death of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko indicate that the Money Changers of the City of London are concerned about the outlined compromise between Russia and the Obama administration and simply are trying to “poison the well”.
Here ya go, from the American libertarian right:
= = = = =
The Craziest Conspiracy Theory of Them All
The British government’s report on the death of Alexander Litvinenko reads like a bad thriller
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2016/01/21/craziest-conspiracy-theory/
Winter in Moscow
http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/serfilatov/37945564/370034/370034_600.jpg
http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/serfilatov/37945564/370374/370374_600.jpg
some more..
http://primcenter.ru/images/photos/medium/fc23c809f08b4f58445997ce23856bcb.jpg
Who is Mr. Putin
Yeltsin, as a competent manager, saw his term draws to an end and he must do something. Put on top of a man who can tame (and reconcile) various warring clans and lead them. He stared and tried (Chernomyrdin, Primakov, Stepashin), but all was not it.
And someone suggested that there was a group in St. Petersburg, which correctly resolves conflicts between the city’s warring clans, and it was led by Vladimir Putin. Before Putin, St. Petersburg was like Chicago during the Prohibition in the 1920s.
Waiting for Yeltsin was no longer possible. He was not wrong. Putin has become the leader who gradually took the reins of Russia into his hands.
Now Putin is doing the same but on the global level. He shows all main world elites that he is the man who can serve as a guarantor of conflict-free and bloodless resolutions of tension nodes that have developed in the world between national comprador businesses and main banksters clans or the “deciders”, same as he or the Bush family.
How would you advise Chile and Argentina who are in danger of losing Patagonia to the Zionists? Do you think Putin would be willing to help?
http://henrymakow.com/2016/01/zionists-set-their-sights.html
“Yeltsin, as a competent manager. . .”
Hah. Yeltsin was a drunken fool and a shill for the Western elites and the oligarchs privatizing Russia’s treasure for a kopek on the ruble.
Putin, OTOH, is an impressive and skilled leader and negotiator — for a politician, of course.
My family closely knew Yeltsin – he was in civil construction business in Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg). He rapidly ascended from General Manager of large construction company, to the first secretary of Regional Committee of the Communist Party – the first person in a very important Ural region.
He was a competent, no BS manager, one of the best first secretaries we ever had. He never was rumored to be a drunk.
In 1985 he was taken to Moscow to head the Moscow Committee of the Communist Party, automatically becoming a member of Politburo.
What happened to him there is a long story, but one thing is becoming clear now: Yeltsin, with all problems he had, played a crucial role in preserving the unity of the Russian Federation – it was under a danger of splitting apart into 18 different regions.
Just a few weeks ago Putin participated in opening a first in Russia Presidential Library dedicated to the memory of Yeltsin in Yekaterinburg.
Well, I can only see these matters as an outsider, but I’m an interested outsider and I’ve tried to stay in touch with Russian matters over the years.
Here are two interesting reads on the Yeltsin years:
= = = = =
The Oligarchs: Wealth And Power In The New Russia
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1610390709/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_3?pf_rd_p=1944687662&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0812932153&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1TJAA131XMZDJ7Y0RECW
= = = = =
Sale of the Century: Russia’s Wild Ride from Communism to Capitalism
http://www.amazon.com/Sale-Century-Russias-Communism-Capitalism/dp/0812932153
= = = = =
As for his alleged alcoholism, there are just too many reports to dismiss. For instance, in his memoir, Bill Clinton says that Boris was found, clad only in his underwear, shit-faced drunk, trying to hail a cab because he wanted a pizza.
Now, Clinton is a famous liar, but I doubt that would have gotten past his publisher’s fact-checkers without serious review.
Wouldn’t surprise me if Donald Trump gets elected. he’ll get behind him the resources of the Bush Clan (just like Obama did) – after all Donald turned out to be a better spokesman than Jeff.
Obama-Friendly Lehman Bros. to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy
http://patterico.com/2008/09/15/obama-friendly-lehman-bros-to-file-chapter-11-bankruptcy/
Lehman Bros was taken down because it was used by the Bush Clan to channel funds to Obama campaign in 2008.
How are things going over in Davos?
The Big Week is almost ended and The Luminaries are summing up, huddling together and formulating a list of Edicts, which will be presented shortly.
Number One Edict:
Western Europe, Canada and the United States must open their borders and accept as many Muslim immigrants from Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia as want to come, all 2 billion if necessary. Prosperity and growth, indeed, the future of the world depends on this one point.
Heed this edict or else!
Picture a pack of well groomed Hyenas, gorging on fresh meat, in a resort in the Swiss Alps, pausing for a moment to cast a jaundiced over Europe, over the entire earth.
The Day of the Hyena is upon us.
brh
Where will the 1% escape to? South America, Australia?
At their Redoubt, in the Alps.
brh
Paraguay. Because it has the largest fresh water reserves in the world, and more importantly for the 1% Paraguay has no extradition.
Canada has the most fresh water, imo.
1/5 of all the fresh water on Earth.
As I keep explaining, it doesn’t matter where they go to escape. They will only be safe until their guards decide that the time has come to point their weapons inward.
Lookee here, trouble brewing in Moldova, potentially Big Trouble!
Something to do with bankers, not exactly clear to me, but tens of thousands of people in the street.
What makes this interesting is that Moldova is often cited as the next country the Russian Army moves into, and takes over.
This event may serve as the catalyst to kick off the whole show. Wait and see.
brh
The protesters are mostly socialists and ex-communists who are fed up with corruption in what happens to be a pro-EU government and they want new elections.
The EU is in no shape to help. The sensible thing to do would be to hold those elections before the situation gets totally out of control and we have reverse-Kiev breakdown.
Russia has no real interest in invading Moldova, but it won’t let the ethnic Russians of Trans-Dniester be tramped in the conflict, so it could, at least conceivably happen — if the pro-EU government is dumb enough to refuse to call elections.
wpa, i agree that the oilfield workers who know nothing else…..need to learn something else.
gimme a break, are we supposed to feel sorry for them?
adversity is a great teacher
necessity is the mother of invention
they’ll be back earning 100k in 3-4 years after the current shale bashdown is over anyway
Oil rise by more than 5%. Russian Ruble reversed its slide – down to 79 from high of 85. DOW futures show positive trend.
Liberal hyenas that are predicting “The Days of the Hyena upon us” will look ridiculous.
the scaremongers always look ridiculous in hindsight. there may be a few exceptions
mankind progresses forward , at least in the West
DOW 36,000 will be a reality
JHK’s grandiose predictions (some minor ones have panned out) will not.
the scaremongers always look ridiculous in hindsight. – fodase
=============
All financial concerns disappeared overnight: Asia, Europe, Dow futures and oil all surge.
the scaremongers always look ridiculous in hindsight. – fodase
==============
Let’s see if Stockman is a better prognosticator than JHK. He has gone way out on a slender limb. He predicts Amazon stock price will begin a crash on or about Jan 28th. Amazon reports its earnings after the market close that day.
I forget the details but I think he said down 70% in 11 months.
So Dow will be 5000, again.
During the 2008-9 crisis, Dow was in that general range.
How do you get DOW 5000 from a prediction concerning Amazon, a single stock?
I forget the details but I think he said down 70% in 11 months.
Few hours ago, China announced that it will no longer devalue Yuan, which could likely mean a concession to the US on a number of issues, including the refusal to support the policy of oil dumping pursued by Saudi Arabia. == me
In my opinion, main reasons for catastrophic oil price and losses of 2000 in Dow Jones:
1. Chinese devaluing Yuan by 15% in response to turning on “Dollar Vacuum Cleaner” by raising the FED lending rate.
2. Saudi Arabia dumping excess oil production in amount of around extra 5 million barrels a day in hope of bringing Russia (and others) to their knees.
3. Speculative attack by the Pirates on the NYMEX with massive short-selling of oil futures.
As a result DOW lost 2000 points which amount to about 4-5 trillion dollars in losses for the American economy. America, objectively speaking, is suffering more from that predicament than Russia.
Finca,
Any snow up there in in St. Pete, or are you snowless like here in New England?
brh
Its 83 down here, you stubborn dude… and ocean is warm and calm and inviting.
Where I live we have had two 1/8th inch dustings this winter, now the forecast is for “multiple feet.” It’s feast or famine around here.
Oil rise by more than 5%. Russian Ruble reversed its slide, … DOW futures show positive trend. – Finca
============
“One day a trend doth not make.” – Shakespere
You’re right of course, if you only look at stupid technical charts, not geopolitical trends.
All financial concerns disappeared overnight: Asia, Europe, Dow futures and oil all surge. – Q’s market report
==============
“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” – Dante’s Divine Comedy
Mitch McConnell Ready To Give President Unlimited War Powers
The GOP leader just unveiled a sweeping war authorization bill and cleared it for a Senate vote.
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) caught nearly everybody off guard late Wednesday by quietly clearing the path for new legislation to declare war on the self-described Islamic State — an issue he’d signaled for months he had no interest in touching.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mitch-mcconnell-war-authorization-isis_us_56a115eae4b0404eb8f083d0
That would put Hillary in big trouble (which she perfectly deserves)
That coup was disrupted a week ago, when all guards of Barack Obama in Hawaii have been replaced by people of Bush and Trump, and Boris Gryzlov arrived in Ukraine to present Poroshenko with ultimatum in relation to this particular situation, because Russia can no longer tolerate the existence along its borders of the Protectorate of Hillary Clinton, being a Nazi and Islamist enclave of ISIS.
http://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/discovery/#comment-258329
12 Marines Missing In Hawaii Declared Dead
Jan. 21 — The U.S. Marine Corps declared the 12 missing Marines dead on Thursday, two days after a massive five-day search for the men was suspended. The Marines went missing on Jan. 14 after two military helicopters crashed during a nighttime training off Oahu’s north shore.
The Marine Corps changed the status of the Marines from “missing” to “deceased” after the victims’ families were notified.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/marines-missing-hawaii-crash_us_569c3b37e4b0b4eb759ecea1
It’s all just a stupid coincidence, of course, including Mitch McConnell sudden change of heart regarding declaring a war on ISIS.
“The Marine Corps changed the status of the Marines from “missing” to “deceased” after the victims’ families were notified.”
May the peace of Allah be upon them and their families.
The pilots were probably straight white men (full of testosterone and given to hotdogging, like John McCain), not lesbian, gay, or transgendered. Straight white men get a lot of people killed, and not just in training accidents.
Your denial of your racism is just confirmation of it. – Janos
==============
Who’s denying my racism? We’re ALL racists, even the liars. (Blacks are superior runners.) We just don’t make a religion of it.
Then do so.
Make a religion of it. You need a reason to live.
No, racism is not a religion, but it does become public policy, like Jim Crow. Religion supports the policy makers.
Jan. 17, 2017: Bernie Sanders sworn in as Potus
Jan. 18, 2017: President Sanders loots bank accounts of Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer, billionaire oligarchs.
Jan. 19, 2017, President Sanders sends Marlin Williams a check for $42,500 for a new Ford Truck and a new Henry rifle.
See, I’m tired of working my ass off and having the shit taxed out of me, at the same time being told I’m not paying enough.
For once, I want to be the guy kicking back, getting free stuff, taking life easy, living off the fat o’ the land, TELLING SOMEBODY ELSE THEY’RE NOT PAYING ENOUGH!!!”
Bernie Sanders for President!
The Hyenas are grinning, ear to ear.
brh
Marlin, take a bus
$42,500, that’s not even 1 year’s free tuition at Trinity, Yale or Amherst. As of Jan., 17, 2017, tuition will be free. From what I understand from the Sander’s campaign mailer I have here in front of me, pretty much everything will be free.
I want my fair share of expropriated swag, Goddamit!
brh
“Trinity, Yale or Amherst. As of Jan., 17, 2017, tuition will be free.”
Gee, I specifically remember Bernie Sanders saying 500 times that tuition would be free at PUBLIC colleges and universities. Not once has he promised a new truck and rifle for Marlin. How much is the rifle? I might buy it for you as a Christmas gift, just before Bernie is elected. 🙂
^just before Bernie is sworn in^
I’ve been misinformed, WPA.
I thought the billionaires are gonna get hung, their $$$ confiscated, their estates sold, and free stuff was to be handed out to us proles. Now you’re telling me this is not the case. I’m sorely disappointed.
brh
They wont be grinning once they meet Henry Rifle.
https://www.yahoo.com/movies/oscar-nominee-charlotte-rampling-diversity-debate-164329970.html
The meme grows. We are the incoming tide. What are Q, Zone, Doug, Finc, et al but so many Canutes hoarsely ordering the tide to go back out? Same thing with the Republican Party: they’re up to their knees now and freaking out. No help! We are coming and there is nothing you can do about it. It’s the harvest time and our scythes are sharp. Call us Scythians and duck. As our Ozzy brothers say, the tall poppy get his head chopped off.
Janos, take a pill
What about the Zionist designs on Patagonia? What should we (all White Gentiles are brothers now) do?
Janos, I would love to understand the inner-workings of your mind. Someday courses will be offered in it.
How do you start by posting a link on the Oscar Awards diversity kerfuffle and jump in two quick steps to the question “What about the Zionist designs on Patagonia?” Do I really need to add this to my bucket list of earthly concerns? Hell, I had to Google up the location of Patagonia.
I’ve got bigger fish to fry: I’m going to have to shovel more than a foot of snow today and I’m not too sure what shape my arteries are in.
It’s really hard to keep up with the convolutions of the conspiranoid mind.
= = = = =
From Wiki:
Andinia Plan (Spanish: plan Andinia) refers to a conspiracy theory to allegedly establish a Jewish state in parts of Argentina and Chile. It is partly based on an exaggeration of historical proposals for organized Jewish migration to Argentina in the late 19th and the early 20th century (which, however, did not include plans for a Jewish state there).
The name and contents of the plan have wide currency in Argentine and Chilean extreme right-wing circles, but no evidence of its actual existence has ever been brought up, making it according to the US-based Anti Defamation League, the Conservative Gatestone Institute and the Israeli research institute Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs an example of a conspiracy theory.[1][2][3]
This alleged plan has been used as a rhetorical device by far right circles to attack Jews and institutions. In 1971 a leaflet appeared among officers in the Argentinean army under the name “Plan Andinia,” which accused international Jewry and Zionists of planning to take over southern Argentina. It has been circulating ever since.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andinia_Plan
No mystery: I was responding to Finc who chimed in to tell me to shut up. Since he had ignored my question previously, I took this as an opportune moment to ask again. It’s hard to follow all the currents here: I have no idea what Buck and you were talking about what he said good job and you said thanks. Obviously it’s in reference to something far, far above.
Are you taking your two aspirin a day to thin your blood and avoid the clogging that can lead to heart attacks? Always be very aware of your current state. If you are suddenly breathing very hard for something that usually doesn’t do that, you should stop immediately, even leaving something undone. Not having a proper night’s sleep can do this too. The body hasn’t had a chance to clean out the waste, rest, and renew. A younger man could push thru this. An old man would be advised not to try.
Dug: How much you want to bet a Jew wrote that entry? Do you really think they’re going to admit, “Yes, we are planning to do what we did in Palestine in the mid 20th century again in the mid 21st, this time in southern South America.”
Janos, your comments are often very artistic – that’s what we love about you – but frequently off the mark. Who here has written a word favoring diversity in acting awards?
I think you’ve been watching too many Harry Potter movies…… or something.
I was speaking in general, in the realm of Principle. To me, events are just examples of Principles. They are the real thing. To ordinary men, Principles are non-existent or at best, a way of describing or categorizing events – which are the real thing.
On a scale of one to ten the improvement in my understanding afforded by ^your reply^ gets a zero.
She’s scary looking. Seems to have a permanent case of conjunctivitis.
Time has not been kind to her since her Playboy years in the 70s. She is no Raquel or Fonda.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3412614/Oscar-overhaul-Academy-overhauls-membership-voting-rules-promote-diversity.html
No-show: Spike Lee has revealed he plans to go to a Knicks game rather than the Academy Awards in protest over the lack of diversity among this year’s nominees
The few white players on the Knicks have announced they are going to skip that game to watch the Academy Awards instead.
Kristaps Porzingis added “I tink Mr Lee luke stoopid in doze glasses” 😉
Your comment about the Knicks is really funny!
Tanks.
Very funny. The BET awards are too Black.
….and then Janos woke up. Interesting choice of flowers. Here’s an analogy for the coming diversity: you can cut down the flowers but you can’t hold back the Spring.
Arab Spring?
I’m just telling janos not to count on that white wedding. would hate to see her stood up at the altar.
aahhh haha ha
This is a screem. Wpa posted this comment 10 days ago:
“Half of US Shale Drillers May Go Bankrupt” –Doug
Operative word being “May”
Get back to me when the shale oil boom turns out to be bust… because I have been reading about the imminent bust now for years… and it just keeps on booming.
Who are you going to trust? I would say trust reality. Reality will slap you up the side of the head. Since we have felt no such slap… go with the reality that “shale depletion” is not happening.
===============
Today wpa says:
“Cry me a river. They* “know nothing else” … give me a break. Anyone stupid enough not to have seen we are transitioning away from fossil fuels to alternative energy deserves to lose their jobs.”
*wpa speaking of oil field workers
Wpa has a serious problem with consistency, but that’s old news.
I was consistent that whole day. Today is another day.
Here ya go, wpa: I forward a gift from the leader of our
19th century Transcendentalist movement:
= = = = =
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — ‘Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.’ — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
= = = = =
But trust me, very few extractive projects decline in production faster than a typical fracked shale well.
And with all those rusting bulk carriers hitting the market, it will be hard to get a good scrap price for all the extra drilling equipment the producers have been using to keep production high enough to pay the banks.
Thank you for the gift, Doug. Seems Emerson agrees with me.
Yes Doug, Attorney David Morabito, who lives not 20 minutes from me is suing New York State. He owns land in the southern tier and feels he should be able to reap the benefits i.e. profits from his land. JHK in his book Too Much Magic describes what fracking involves. If Mr. Morabito prevails Gov. Cuomo’s ban on fracking would be overturned.
Yeah, contrary to what some here seem to imagine, I keep up with the situation in the Marcellus as well ;^) as other plays.
I haven’t seen Morabito’s filings, but I know that his primary claim is that that DEC’s decision to deny him a permit was arbitrary and capricious, which is a pretty funny argument since the study went on, in great detail and with endless industry and public input, for seven years.
His other chief argument appears to be that the State of New York DOESN’T HAVE STANDING to stop him from extracting gas on his private property. I believe the kids on the interwebs say ROFLMAO.
I’m not sure why the court hasn’t ruled on DEC’s motion for summary dismissal, yet, but, whatever . . . David Morabito is tilting at windmills, and he’s lucky he doesn’t have to pay for a lawyer.
A serious question for Janos and wpa:
If or when Trump and Sanders fail to win their respective party nominations or get run over by a truck or die of a heart attack or otherwise quit the race, who are YOUR second choices?
who are YOUR second choices?
Sarah Palin: Republican VP (McCain already gave her practice)
Julian Castro: Democratic VP
Julian served three terms as Mayor of San Antonio and did not quit in the middle of any of his terms of office.
Sarah Palin is a quitter. She quit in the middle of her term.
So, for the Republicans you should be looking at third choices. For the Republicans the third choice would be Speaker Paul Ryan.
Are you pulling my leg or are you actually this dumb? I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and say the former.
Your #1 choice for Prez on the Dem ticket is Sanders. I’m not asking about the VP and I’m not asking who you’d like to see on the Repub ticket, assuming it turns out not to be Trump. That question is for Janos.
If your second choice happens NOT to be a Dem but some other 3rd party or independent wannabe, name *her*.
This has suddenly gotten way too serious for CFN. This is an entertainment site where we scare each other with apocalyptic doom scenarios (“very few extractive projects decline in production faster than a typical fracked shale well”), not a place for serious discussion.
And why do you write *her*? Am I supposed to fill in the blank with Jill Stein or Elizabeth Warren? Sorry, no can do. Hillary?
There are 1,491 official candidates for President in 2016. That means they have filed their Form 2s and can be elected president. I do not have time to wade through 1,491 candidates to find a “2nd choice.” I expect Bernie Sanders to win the presidency.
Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders hold solid leads in Iowa, CNN/ORC poll finds
http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/21/politics/iowa-poll-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-donald-trump-ted-cruz/
In a Trump vs. Sanders contest, polls also show Sanders wins.
Of course, Iowa and New Hampshire are white states (committed to socialism, ha ha ha), so of course they go for Bernie Sanders. America, nationally, is ready and waiting for its first socialist president.
Remember a few months ago when Bernie had 2% support and “didn’t have a chance”?
Remember when Obama was thought to be “unelectable” in both 2007 and 2011? One Republican leader after another, in a FoxNews litany, tried to convince us Romney had the lead and was going to win.
Oh, how quickly we forget.
Bernie Sanders 2016
I do not have time to wade through 1,491 candidates to find a “2nd choice.” I expect Bernie Sanders to win the presidency. – wps
==============
You can’t even remain consistent for 2 hours much less a full day. Here’s what you said earlier about Hillary:
They won’t shoot her, just perp walk her to women’s prison. If she is the candidate, I will vote for her, even if she is in prison.
Touche’!
“This is an entertainment site where we scare each other with apocalyptic doom scenarios (‘very few extractive projects decline in production faster than a typical fracked shale well’). . .”
= = = = =
A Bakken Well’s Short Life Cycle
http://www.realclearenergy.org/charticles/2013/02/18/bakken_well_life_cycle_106890.html
= = = = =
Remember, I got a million of ’em (and so did the Bakken drillers, for as long as they could keep it up, cuz the individual wells look like the graph at the link).
“If she is the candidate, I will vote for her, even if she is in prison.” –wpa-ccc being conditional
Q. are you playing dumb? You know the meaning of “IF” and you probably recognize an attempt at humor, however flawed.
I don’t expect she will be the candidate. No consistency violation. Sorry.
There is no one else. That’s the whole point. That’s what drives the Trump Train. The closest guy, also hated by the mainstream, is Cruz. But he can’t be trusted since he is in bed with Goldman Sachs, both metaphorically and literally.
Actually, I think I would rather have Sanders then any other Republican. And obviously no other Democrat. Sanders is in some very dim and compromised sense, a National Socialist. Trump is too, incredibly. Thus he is hated with a passion because His version is far closer to the real thing symbolically and emotionally, if not ideologically. Too put it more bluntly, he is (or is posing very well as) an American Patriot Populist. And as all Leftists and Liberals know, (they’re right btw), that’s not far from being a Fascist.
Actually, I think I would rather have Sanders [then] any other Republican. And obviously no other Democrat. Sanders is in some very dim and compromised sense, a National Socialist. – Janos
===============
[than]
This is exactly what I have been thinking and I have gotten you to say it. Bernie is YOUR man (society trumps the individual) save for his fatal flaw: he’s a JEW ….. from NY, no less, yuk.
love the schoolmarm shtick,shtik. But please, please be careful this is Janos you’re correcting
Here comes the Gray Squirrel. He’s big as a Lion. You better run Alfalfa cuz he thinks you’re a nut. He’s right.
does it look like I’m runnin’?
So what? As Deng Xiaoping said, I don’t care if a cat is black or white as long as he can catch mice. Many Jews served in Hitler’s army with distinction. As long as they know that we know, that is usually enough to keep them on straight and narrow.
That would put Hillary in big trouble (which she perfectly deserves) — me
The Marines who will kick-open the Hillary’s doors will carry fully-automatics guns loaded with silver bullets smelted from JFK silver dollars.
They won’t shoot her, just perp walk her to women’s prison. If she is the candidate, I will vote for her, even if she is in prison. She can govern from prison… if they trust her with email. 🙂
Spike, Will and Jada are powerful.
I wonder if the voters for Oscars will now be 51% women?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3412614/Oscar-overhaul-Academy-overhauls-membership-voting-rules-promote-diversity.html
I realize WPA is justifiably enthusiastic about Bernie’s campaign but I’m afraid the math doesn’t bode very well for Sanders:
http://cookpolitical.com/story/9179
“A serious question for Janos and wpa:
If or when Trump and Sanders fail to win their respective party nominations or get run over by a truck or die of a heart attack or otherwise quit the race, who are YOUR second choices?”–Q
Sanders will not win and Trump isn’t going to lose. There is simply no way a ‘ GOP establishment’ type is going to derail Trump. Moreover, Cruz is more reviled than Trump among the GOP establishment types. or at least that’s what the ‘insiders’ claim.
Love him or hate him Trump is a fascinating character–or at least the campaign dynamics are fascinating. Trump has spoken to the visceral core of the modern day GOP constituency and as Janos correctly observes, he is cutting down all opposition. Or at least in the GOP primary.
SURE SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE…
at least to those of us in college &/or the military in the sixties and seventies–no more nudity in Playboy magazine.
Kristy Garett, Miss February 2016, Playboy’s 749th Playmate, is the last to bare all in the pages of the iconic men’s magazine:
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/he3d-article-1.2456587
“Her centerfold shot marks the end of an era that started shortly after Hugh Hefner rolled out his magazine in 1953 — featuring nude photos of Marilyn Monroe.”
Needless to say, the magazine’s new direction was not Hefner’s idea. A related NY Daily News Confidential story [“Hugh Hefner goes soft as Playboy goes PG-13”] reported, “While The New York Times has reported that the 89-year-old Hefner, who launched the groundbreaking magazine in 1953, ‘agreed’ to take the famous naked ladies off its pages, the insider said, ‘I think that this is not at all what Hef wants. A second insider familiar with the drooping organ said of Hefner, ‘His whole thing — everything he’s worked for and started — is being torn down.”
“the drooping organ”
Good one.
“But trust me, very few extractive projects decline in production faster than a typical fracked shale well.”
Doug,
If what you are preaching were true, we would not have the production we currently have. Reality would have smacked us up the side of the head. I am not fantasizing. You are.
The United States holds more than 60 percent of the world’s drilling rigs, and 95 percent of these are capable of performing horizontal drill- ing that can continue shale production at your graph’s 33% yield. No other country or area in the world has even a fraction of such “drilling power,” which takes several years to build up.
To give you an idea of US dominance: In 2012, the United States completed 45,468 oil and gas wells (and brought 28,354 of them on line). Excluding Ganada, the rest of the world completed only 3,921 wells.
We have decades more production capacity ahead. Peak oil? Not yet.
Q, the writing which you shared up thread reminded me of William Dean Howells:
“In Venetian streets they give the fallen snow no rest. It is at once shoveled into the canals by hundreds of half-naked facchini; and in St Mark’s place the music of innumerable shovels smote upon my ear; and I saw the shivering legions of poverty as it engaged the elements in a struggle for the possession of the Piazza. But the snow continued to fall, and through the twilight of the descending flakes all this toil and encounter looked like that weary kind of effort in dreams, when the most determined industry only seems to renew the task. The lofty crest of the bell-tower was hidden in the folds of the fallen snow, and I could no longer see the golden angel upon its summit. But looked at across the Piazza, the beautiful outline of St Mark’s Church was beautifully penciled in the air, and the shifting threads of the snowfall were woven into a spell of novel enchantment around the structure that always seemed to me too exquisite in its fantastic loveliness to be anything but the creation of magic. The tender snow had compassionated the beautiful edifice for all the wrongs of time, and so hid the stains and ugliness of decay that it looked as if just from the hand of the builder–or, better said, just from the brain of the architect. There was marvelous freshness in the colors of the mosaics in the great arches of the façade, and all that gracious harmony into which the temple rises, of marble scrolls and leafy exuberance airily supporting the statues of the saints, was a hundred times etherealized by the purity and whiteness of the drifting flakes. The snow lay lightly on the golden globes that tremble like peacock-crests above the vast domes and plumed them with softest white; it robed the saints in ermine; and it danced over all its work, as if exulting in its beauty-beauty which filled me with a subtle, selfish yearning to keep such evanescent loveliness for the little-while-longer of my whole life, and with despair to think that even the poor lifeless shadow of it could never be reflected in picture or poem.”
Wow, if only.
Luther said the saved are just like a dung heap covered by snow. The dung heap symbolizing man’s nature and the snow, Christ’s grace.
Catholicism and Orthodoxy disagree, claiming that man can change with the help of Grace in general, especially the grace of the sacraments. You don’t have to be a dung heap if you don’t want to be.
Have you seen the new PBS Dr Seuss?
The little blonde now has no brother and a black boyfriend.
Check Youtube.
Janos Krantz, pure as the wind-driven snow.
Doug, your focus seems to be on Bakken. At $30/bbl, Bakken production could be sustained at 1 million b/d into 2017, while at $20/bbl production would drop to 950,000 b/d in 2017.
But that’s just Bakken. The average oil production from the South Texas, Eagle Ford basin in November 2015 was 1.5 million barrels per day. On a year-over-year basis, that is up nearly 40,000 incremental barrels per day, or about 3%, from November 2014.
If your shale well “short life cycle” schtick were true, reality would let us know. You can point to graphs on the internet and believe them, but you CANNOT get oil where there is no oil.
Contrary to your internet graph, the production last year went up, not down. Capacity is still there, the oil is still there. At the moment the economics are not there, despite JHK forecasting $500 a barrel oil… which just didn’t happen. But when it bounces back to $50, those supposedly “depleted” wells will be humming again (not that I’m happy about that… I think the oil should stay in the ground at any price).
You are totally misunderstanding both my point and the graph (which you must have barely glanced at, while reading little to nothing of the accompanying text).
Just for starters: The graph was of the depletion curve of a single well. The point was that production was maintained only by frantically drilling more wells to make up for the rapid depletion of the ones drilled in the couple of previous years.
I’ll be happy to talk about any tight oil or gas plays you prefer; someone was using the Bakken as an a cornucopian example, so I’ve used it in my responses.
But, I slept late and haven’t had my coffee, yet, so you go back and pay attention to what the graph and article actually say and we’ll chat later.
Doug, I can point to graphs, too. Here is what a bounce looks like:
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/dam/assets/160122145123-oil-price-2016-780×439.png
I specifically remember Bernie Sanders saying 500 times that tuition would be free at PUBLIC colleges and universities. – wpa
============
Yeah, free to the individual but a burden to society.
In the first place, why do states feel they should be in the public college business any more than they’re in the public shoe or public grocery business?
In what way are schools like legitimate functions of government such as police, fire, water and sewer departments.
Is private enterprise unable or inept at schooling people?
Half the students in public colleges don’t have the necessary brains or temperament for academic rigor and are ‘earning’ degrees of dubious worth at very high cost.
At this point, the purpose of much post 9th grade education is to keep young people out of the job market [the jobs are not there].
And school keeps young people off the streets, at least some of the time.
The Post Industrial world has many challenges.
Yeah but Q, isn’t the individual locked up a burden to society?
some folks don’t agree with inmates earning college degrees while in prison. Proponents of this idea say it reduces recidivism rates.
Just a hunch but if people know more aren’t they less likely to commit ignorant acts?
Somewhere JHK called college extortion. They rake in vast sums of money for the promise of a high paying job, which as we hear doesn’t pan out for many.
Maybe it’s K-12 that needs to create interested learners and not simply young conformists
“Yeah, free to the individual but a burden to society.”
This is not an answer to your questions, but I have never had occasion to call either the police or the fire department, yet I have paid for them all my life. That is communism… taking from those who have to give to those in need. Police and firefighters are “a burden to society.”
Yet I paid for the police and firefighters elementary, middle school, and high school educations, and for their children’s education, even though I chose not to have children. That is a communist public school system… taking from those who have and giving to those in need. I suppose we could just not pay for K-12 education because it is a “burden to society” but somehow it seems illiterate ignorant police and firefighters would not be a good thing.
You have said you do not believe in society mandating a minimum wage, or in unions, so police and firefighters should not be paid anything either and should not have collective bargaining rights.
Basically, you just seem to believe in paying for the military, for “defense,” but not for anything else. Just keep all your money for you and your family and to hell with society. Isn’t the resulting anarchy you propose a little frightening? Oh, now I get it… you are scaring us. Good job!
Here is what a bounce looks like — wpa
Oil and stocks are trading in lockstep.
Research conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland in 2008 found no statistically significant relationship between S&P 500 and oil prices, meaning that oil and stock prices historically have moved independently of each other. According to Cumberland Advisors, citing Barclays data, the correlation between the S&P 500 and oil has been about 25% over the last 20 years.
Yet, since December 2015, the correlation is almost 90%.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-oil-and-stocks-are-trading-in-lockstep-134657492.html
What the article fails to mention, there is another correlation: between Chinese Yuan and oil price. First China devalues the Yuan, followed by the fall in oil prices; then again China devalues the Yuan, then again falling oil prices. And each iteration leads to a decrease in the index of Dow Jones by 1000 points, 500 points of which can be safely attributed to oil dumping by Saudi Arabia.
The greatest mystery and the greatest threat to humanity
That is, if the Chinese will find out that rice is just a side dish…
“In what way are schools like legitimate functions of government” — Q
Where else should the government invest if not into the health and education of its own citizens? Its just a matter of survival.
Then why are there no government shoe stores and grocery stores? Food is the most basic need of the citizen yet who provides it? ShopRite.
‘Public’ education is a power trip for politicians filled with unnecessary sports stadia, expensive diversity czars and smug micro-aggressions experts.
“Then why are there no government shoe stores and grocery stores? ” — Q
Shoe stores do not make shoes and grocery stores do not grow food.
Those comprador-type businesses are the best fit for private, turn-a-quick-buck-here-and-now shops.
Education and medical care are just too important and requires massive scientific and infrastructural support.
I am not against private medical or educational facilities as an addition and competition to a well-developed network of public schools and hospitals.
Well stated Fincal.
The Black Project symbolic: Black Nazi SS uniforms, Black ropes of ISIS killers
http://i.allday.ru/23/63/94/1315325002_roman82227-kop2222iya.jpg
http://novostimira.net/uploads/posts/p/2015-03-01/britanskaya_razvedsluzhba_mi5_znala_o_dzhihadi_dzhone_s_2008_goda-_odnako_pozvolila_emu_sbezhat_v_si.jpg
US and Hitler
In November 1922 was the first American contact with Adolph Hitler. In an interview with US assistant military attaché in Germany Smith, the future Fuhrer said: “Do not wait until you have to fight with the Communists on the battlefield, let us deal with them”.
This statement made a strong impression on Washington. Since December 1922 Warburg banking Group began to fund the right extremist movement in the Weimar Republic.
As a guardian to Hitler the US intelligence services attached Ernst Hanfstaengl, the son of a German and an American. Arriving in Germany he helped with the publication of the Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf.” Thanks to the American financial injections Nazi newspaper “Volkischer Beobachter” became a national media megaphone.
The Hitler SA storm troopers were marching to the music composed by Hanfstaengl. It is no accident that he became a foreign agent to the Nazi Party spokesman and deputy head of the press office of Rudolf Hess. Hanfstaengl mediate in establishing contacts between Hitler’s prominent politicians and foreign leaders. In 1937, he secretly left the Third Reich.
The Great Anglo-Saxon Cover Story about the Munich Appeasement
It is high time to understand that the Munich Conference in September 1938 was not prepared in a hurry, but was a carefully planned transaction. London and Paris had agreed back in 1937 to cede the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia to Hitler.
As a result of the Munich Agreement, which was embodied in the Chamberlain’s line to seek “a solution acceptable to all, except to Russia,” put the Soviet Union in a very difficult position.
The Poles were choosing between Britain and Germany. Finally, Great Britain hurried to announce that it would provide Poland with security guarantees. Beck had nothing to do but to reject on March 26 the Berlin’s demands.
Two days after Germany unleashed a devastating blow to Poland on September 1, 1939, Great Britain and France declared war on the Third Reich. However, Warsaw had not received any real help but rhetoric from British guarantor of its security.
Then began a “strange war” … German generals wondered why the enemy is not using its four-time advantage in manpower, the overwhelming superiority in tanks and aircraft.
Meanwhile, the British Field Marshal Edmund Ironside gave “valuable” advice to Poles to appeal for help to neutral countries (!).
It is significant that the first British soldier was killed on 1 December, 1939. Before that London was waiting if Hitler after victory against Poland will not immediately go to the East.
Source of 2 previous posts is new Russian online magazine “Historian”
http://xn--h1aagokeh.xn--p1ai/
“Then began a “strange war” … German generals wondered why the enemy is not using its four-time advantage in manpower, the overwhelming superiority in tanks and aircraft.” == me
Does it remind you the “strange war” the US is waging against ISIL in Iraq and Syria? (at least so far)
“He’s [Solzhenitsyn] a moral giant. You are a pygmy in comparison.” == Janos
If you want to know Russian/Soviet literature, for aesthetes – read Brodsky or Pasternak or Okudzhava. Good poets. Very. But the greatest Russian poet of the 20th century is Vladimir Vysotsky. And there is nothing to discuss here.
Here’s a single song that’s worth all volumes of Solzhenitsyn:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze5O2Ge-las
How can I respect a culture that can’t write the letter N properly? 🙂
There are 26 letters in standard English alphabet, and 33 in Russian. May be that explains more phonetic qualities of Russian language when you almost never have to spell out words, even on the phone.
Juan Cole: Neoliberal, Republicans, not “big government”, poisoned Flint, MI water.
http://www.juancole.com/2016/01/no-gov-snyder-flints-water-wasnt-poisoned-by-government-it-was-by-your-appointee.html
I am different than Zero Hedge and proud of it
Zero Hedge prints a hit-piece against the War Declaration on Islamic State
Rather than being a favor to President Obama, this is primarily a means to ensure that whoever takes control in 2017 receives a blank check for unrestrained militarism with no expiration date. This is terrifying.
Usual clueless suspects left a lot of usual expected comments:
Dictastor Barry strikes again!
Mitch McConnell is a treasonous SOB
Is that a fucking joke? The U.S has been at war continuously over it’s history without the president having these powers.
…
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-22/mitch-mcconnell-moves-grant-president-unlimited-war-powers-no-expiration-date
The CFNers know better. It is about giving the executive branch a Constitutional authority under the “Trading with The Enemy Act of 1913” to fight against ISIS collaborators within the US itself, starting with the Grand Caliphess herself.
ISIS/ISIL/DAESH must be defeated, and first of all, from within. Which side the Zero Hedge is on?
Of course, Alex Jones is also there:
RED ALERT! MARTIAL LAW 2016
http://www.infowars.com/red-alert-martial-law-2016-2/
Banksters are dealing from both hands, mainstream and “alternative” alike.
That issue will work like a litmus test to show the true colors. Good.
OK, oil & gas cornucopians, you who refuse to understand what the depletion rates of individual wells mean for the economics of fracking and the future of production, I want you to suspend your disbelief in peak oil, and your religious devotion to technology as savior and read this, slowly and carefully:
= = = = =
The Myth of “Saudi America”
Straight talk from geologists about our new era of oil abundance.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2013/02/u_s_shale_oil_are_we_headed_to_a_new_era_of_oil_abundance.html
“The geological considerations expose a number of common threads of faulty reasoning that pervade the current crop of starry-eyed projections of endless oil abundance.
“There are certainly huge amounts of oil locked up in shale formations worldwide. In the United States alone, the Bakken and Eagle Ford shales contain up to 700 billion barrels, and the Green River shale under Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah has a whopping 2 trillion barrels. However, only a tiny fraction of this total is recoverable. ”
[. . .]
“At the high end of the estimates, predicted production from Bakken and Eagle Ford together amounts to perhaps a two-year oil supply for the United States at 2011 consumption rates. That’s significant but not a game-changer. Even if it were to prove possible to achieve production rates comparable to those of Saudi Arabia, that would only mean that we would deplete the resource faster and bring on an oil crash sooner.”
[. . .]
“According to the statistics presented by J. David Hughes at the AGU session, we are now drilling 25,000 wells per year just to bring production back to the levels of the year 2000, when we were drilling only 5,000 wells per year. Worse, the days are long gone when you could stick a pitchfork in the ground and get a gusher that would produce for years. The new wells are expensive (on the order of $10 million each in the Bakken) but give out rapidly, as shown in the following figure from Hughes’ talk illustrating the typical production curve.”
[. . .]
“Tight oil is headed for a Red Queen’s race, where you have to keep drilling and drilling and drilling just to keep your production in the same place. At several million dollars a pop, that adds up to a big annual investment, and eventually you run out of places to put new wells. The following figure, also from Hughes’ talk, shows that if you try to increase production by drilling wells faster, you just wind up running out of oil sooner.”
[. . .]
“High oil prices may make it profitable to recover more oil from unconventional deposits, but ultimately physics rules. In his talk at the AGU session, Charles A.S. Hall pointed out that the energy return on investment—the amount of energy you get out of a well vs. the energy needed to produce the oil—has been getting steadily worse over time.”
[. . .]
“The market is not laying the foundations for an era of unending oil-based prosperity. The market is pushing inexorably toward investment in expensive technologies to extract the last drop of profit through faster depletion of a resource that’s guaranteed to run out. If we’re going to invest in expensive energy technologies, it would be better to pick long-term winners rather than guaranteed losers.”
[. . .]
Raymond T. Pierrehumbert is the Louis Block professor in geophysical sciences at the University of Chicago and the King Carl XVI Gustaf chairman in environmental science at Stockholms Universitet.
= = = = =
Now, please go read the whole piece and *try* to understand that there is really no basis for cornucopian optimism.
The problem, Doug, is that we do not know if we could trust the intellectual honesty of the esteemed professor.
I am not familiar with him or his works, but as a general rule the traditional scientific method as been known from 18h century is dead, replaced by the liberal system of grants and stipends.
Everything is monetized now, one has to have a very good moral instincts and traditions to be able to tell what’s what, and precisely that was under a liberal attack for almost 100 years now.
“Bakken and Eagle Ford together amounts to perhaps a two-year oil supply for the United States at 2011 consumption rates” (Feb. 6, 2013)
This is what I love about you and your kind, Doug. You make predictions that don’t come true. I’m going to allow for the moment the assumption of consumption at 2011 rates.
Simple math would tell you should have run out of supply a year ago, in February 2015. (Math: 2015 minus 2013 = 2 years) … but as I pointed out in a previous post, which perhaps you did not read:
“average oil production from the South Texas, Eagle Ford basin in November 2015 was 1.5 million barrels per day. On a year-over-year basis, that is up nearly 40,000 incremental barrels per day, or about 3%, from November 2014.
If your shale well “short life cycle” schtick were true, reality would let us know. You can point to graphs on the internet and believe them, but you CANNOT get oil where there is no oil.”
Reality is signalling us that the supply is not gone. The supply did not end in 2015, as your bogus article said. Here we are in 2016 and the supply has still not ended. You cannot defeat math, Doug. You are letting your belief and anti-cornucopian bias interfere with your perception of reality.
Reading comprehension is an important skill, WPA. Work on it.
“Simple math would tell you should have run out of supply a year ago, in February 2015. (Math: 2015 minus 2013 = 2 years)”
Well, yeah, that would have happened *if* we had produced all of the recoverable oil from those plays in those two years *and if* the oil produced from those plays had been the only source available in the US.
Go back, read again, *much* more carefully, this time.
“You cannot defeat math, Doug.”
And, if you’re doing the wrong calculations based upon a complete misunderstanding of the “word problem,” you cannot arrive a a correct answer.
Aside from all the OTHER domestic production, outside the Bakken and Eagle Ford . . .
= = = = =
THE UNITED STATES IMPORTED APPROXIMATELY 9 MILLION BARRELS PER DAY (MMb/d) OF PETROLEUM IN 2014 from about 75 countries. Petroleum includes crude oil, natural gas plant liquids, liquefied refinery gases, refined petroleum products such as gasoline and diesel fuel, and biofuels including ethanol and biodiesel. In 2014, about 80% of gross petroleum imports were crude oil, and about 46% of the crude oil that was processed in U.S. refineries was imported.
The United States exported about 4 MMb/d of crude oil and petroleum products in 2014, RESULTING IN NET IMPORTS (imports minus exports) OF ABOUT 5 MMb/d IN 2014. NET IMPORTS ACCOUNTED FOR 27% OF THE PETROLEUM CONSUMED IN THE UNITED STATES, THE LOWEST ANNUAL AVERAGE SINCE 1985.
The top five source countries of U.S. petroleum imports in 2014 were Canada, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Venezuela, and Iraq. The country rankings vary based on gross petroleum imports or net petroleum imports (gross imports minus exports).
http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=727&t=6
The market is pushing inexorably toward investment in expensive technologies to extract the last drop of profit through faster depletion of a resource that’s guaranteed to run out.
Where there is no vision the people perish. Proverbs 29:18
The article goes on to say.”Temporarily cheap and abundant gas buys us some respite—which we should be using to put decarbonized energy systems in place”
I’m trying to find a piece I heard on npr maybe a year ago where they were talking about an energy company using an existing network of pipes to get natural gas from Pennsylvania and New York’s southern tier to the Atlantic seaboard and then out to a facility off the coast where it would be liquefied and shipped to Japan. Japan (or some businessman in Japan) even put up the money to pay for the liquefaction facility.
http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2013/09/04/pennsylvania-gas-exports
http://www.dailystormer.com/16-year-old-girl-reports-on-life-in-ultra-vibrant-new-germany/
You threaten this sweet girl, you subhuman beasts?
Oh, these German girls, are there any females more alluring on the face of the earth? mass raped in 1945 by Red Army soldiers, now 70 years later mass raped by Muslim invaders.
German men, protect your wives, daughters and mothers!
brh
How easy it is, to relegate a dimple in the spirit into the wrinkle in the psyche. One minuscule removal of sculpting material can inadvertently transform a compassionate expression into one of scorn. And this reality is amplified when sculpting the face, eyes, and mouth of the Divine.
Of course some people are not sensitive to these types of inner psychological insights manifested externally. Or even more likely, simply do not care to peer too deeply.
Which is why Trump always wears that ridiculous mask of granite bravado. His expression is unchanging and mechanical, like a laconic battery powered wax museum sculpture able to move its lips. “The Donald ” will never be the object of complex psychological speculation. See Trump once and you’ve seen him forever.
“See Trump once and you’ve seen him forever.” –Buck Stud
No, Trump is a complex human being, as complex as we are.
For example, in the last debate in an answer to Cruz, Trump had a sublime and empathetic facial expression, he spoke in hushed measured words, with a deep compassin, as he quietly refuted Cruz on “New York values” and Trump was so effective at evoking sensitive human emotion, that all Cruz could do was literally applaud as Trump spoke. I saw a different Trump in that last debate.
OK I stand corrected: Donald Trump is the second coming of Richard Burton/Sir Laurence Olivier.
Wouldn’t it be perversely ironic if “The Donald” were elected in a “Jubilee Year of Mercy”…a year in which we are called to ‘open our hearts’ like a door to the poor. forlorn and under-privileged?
Whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop!!
Hear that?
that’s the Hyenas, there in the gathering darkness just out of sight, prowling, circling, probing, waiting for a chance to move in, laughing, laughing at you …
They’re hungry, these hyenas, and your obsolete lefty bullshit c1932-1968, isn’t going to keep you from being eaten. In any event, they look at that as a sign of weakness, of surrender. That’s the lesson of Cologne, which was far worse than originally reported. It looks like the Krauts had to find out the hard way, didn’t they now? And there’s still more lessons to learn. Who knows, maybe its too late.
brh
Are you watching the opening George C. Scott speech scene from “Patton” again? And it reads like you’re drinking too.
When you’re feeling a bit more sober and not so high on Hollywood war films, take another look at your post. I presume by ‘hyenas” you men foreigners/illegal immigrants?
“Well, yeah, that would have happened *if* …” –Doug
Yeah, that big *if* gets in the way of your predictions. And it has been getting in the way … in Brazil, in Saudi Arabia, in Russia, etc. For example, for over a decade, year after year, most experts have been predicting an immediate decline of Russian output. However, the country’s oil production has continued to rise. You can come up with *ifs* to explain it, but your predictions are always wrong when it comes to the reality of oil availability.
Doug, let’s look at another case. Saudi Arabia has been a preferred target of oil doomsters since the 1980s, when it was first accused of manipulating the real extent of its oil reserves. Since then, according to the “peak oil” theorists, the country should have been producing less and less. This bogus perception earned a revival in the middle of the last decade, when Matt Simmons’s book Twilight in the Desert recast doubts on the Kingdom’s effective oil potential, predicting a sudden fall of its production. By the time of Simmons’s book, however, Saudi Arabia announced a plan to expand its oil production capacity by about 2 MBD in just four years, and in late 2009 it reached its target. I’ve been hearing oil doomster predictions of running out of supply for 40 years now, saying much the same thing you are saying today, Doug, and so far nothing has ground to a halt. I would actually like to see the petroleum-dependent armies of the world grind to a halt. Ain’t happened, ain’t happenin” and ain’t gonna happen.
People have actually won money by being cornucopians.
Of course, later the doomsters, like you Doug, come out with the *ifs* like in the Simon-Ehrlich wager. The scary scarcity folks lost to the cornucopian, then said:
“…if the wager had included all important commodities instead of just five metals, or if it was extended by 30 years to 2011, Ehrlich would have won.”
If, if, if…
Doug, Saudi Arabia is not the only player in the Middle East. The recent agreement between Iran and the group of countries—including the United States—the solution Obama negotiated to the long debated Iranian nuclear program means the full return of Iran’s oil production to the international markets. But, *if* only Obama had failed! … *if* *if* *if* blah blah blah… Deal with reality, Doug, instead of citing failed experts who support your pre-conceived doomster theories.
“US imported…from about 75 countries.” –Doug
This is great news! Imagine *if* the US was dependent on one big supplier like Saudi Arabia. Now imagine *if* peak oil were to happen, or war, or whatever… you guys are the experts in scary scenarios.
*If* the supply were cut off, the US would have a problem. But you are reassuring us, Doug, that 75 countries (that is real diversification) have supply. This is great news!
You just blather on and on. It comes out as a cross between a broken record and word salad.
It’s pointless to bother with you any longer.
As you wish, Doug. Just yesterday you seemed so optimistic, so full of expert opinion passed off as facts, until simple math defeated it.
We haven’t yet discussed Libya, Egypt, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Kuwait, Iraq, Brazil, etc. and how deployment of their full oil potential, supported by investments already under
way, raise global oil-production capacity to 110 MBD by 2020.
110 MBD global oil production … Compare that to OPEC crude oil production, which averaged 31.6 million b/d in 2015.
By the way, that 31.6 MBD OPEC production was an increase of 0.9 million b/d from 2014. An increase, despite all the CFN discussion of Twilight in the Desert and the imminent oil production collapse. Back in 2005 Simmons was saying there would be no more increases. In 2005 Simmons was predicting imminent collapse. Just didn’t happen, bro. The opposite happened: increase. Cornucopians 1. Doug 0.
Hello Doug,
Having a bit of fun are you?
Earlier on it was this: “You are totally misunderstanding both my point and the graph (which you must have barely glanced at, while reading little to nothing of the accompanying text).”-d.
And now here we are, no further along then when you began. Wasn’t that productive? I did mention this phenomenon.
The whole point of it is to sidetrack the conversation to one of the trees to steer attention away from traversing the forest, to lock your thinking up in the tactical and confound any strategic insights you might have (perchance).
The nebbish you’ve been tussling with is either 1) compensated for tying-up your time, or 2) mentally ill. In either case they’re also wasting their own time, *ironically*…
😉
“The whole point of it is to sidetrack the conversation to one of the trees to steer attention away from traversing the forest, to lock your thinking up in the tactical and confound any strategic insights you might have (perchance).” –MD
JM Greer has a good name for these distractions and distortions: “Thought-stoppers”. I think that’s apt and reflects the intent quite handily.
Hello Ozone!
RE | “JM Greer has a good name for these distractions and distortions: “Thought-stoppers”. I think that’s apt and reflects the intent quite handily.”oz.
There’s been one thing consistent about it’s inconsistency and this is it. Whenever a conversation starts going somewhere it fumbles in with a butt-load of nonsense and inflammatory gobbled-gook.
How’s your weekend going, b t w?
🙂
“I have the most loyal people, did you ever see that? I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot people and I wouldn’t lose voters” –Donald Trump
What’s more, I bet he could build concentration camps for Muslims, put ovens in them, and wouldn’t lose voters. Trump’s voters obey. They respond to strong authoritarian leaders.
“I bet he could build concentration camps for Muslims,”
Yes, and make the A-rabs pay for it….
What’s more, I bet he could build concentration camps for Muslims, put ovens in them, and wouldn’t lose voters. Trump’s voters obey.
grade-A marxist tactic.
accuse others of what you are/do
muslims would certainly put other people in ovens, in fact they already do
their list of atrocities is never ending
and you support them in their evil
….but of course it’s Trump’s supporter that are nazis
you will be proud of President Trump
I will give President Trump the respect he deserves as temporary resident in a big white house. I will not demean him or treat him the way conservatives have treated Obama.
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5k2leoqWKc-Ujh3aDhmZWVJM1JlZWgxejBTc1NMaVpCcmxZ/view?usp=sharing" Link to Image
Good stuff Q and I’m sure Norman Rockwell would agree! – Buck Stud
=================
Buck,
The link above is a partial pic of the original.
Refer back to Jan 19 at 10:10 pm
Davos, Holy Sh-t!, its better than I thought! Private jets, stretch limos, helicopters, this beats out even the big global warming extravaganza in Paris a few month ago. Many of the same people were in attendance too, Leonardo Di Caprio for instance, in town to pickup yet another global warming prize, flew in on his 747 and gave a stinging speech excoriating the oil, coal and natgas industries.
and when he took the helicopter to the airport and climbed aboard his private 747 he peeled off his human mask, revealing the face of a hyena, whoop, whoop whoop!
brh
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_7OjMl7zAyZQnkwaHh2OGdSRFRaelM1QU45WWp5VEttVVFF/view?usp=sharing
Buck,
An old Spanish girlfriend.
Q,
If you drew that portrait I am deeply impressed–what a sultry, mesmerizing expression!
The breasts are a also a difficult problem because the lighter tone of generally clothed breasts as compared to exposed skin can distort the sense of overall light and shade. But you handled the problem deftly, IMO.
If I was asked to make a suggestion it would be to work a bit more on distinguishing the shadow core within the mass shade note/reflected light and the half-tome transition from light to shade. You handle complex form admirably but simple light and shade studies of an egg will really bolster more complex efforts.
Thanks for sharing; you The Man Q!
If I was asked to make a suggestion it would be to work a bit more on distinguishing the shadow core within the mass shade note/reflected light and the half-tome transition from light to shade. – Buck
============
That’s all Greek to me but I’ll get a translation from my art-trained son in Philly. Thanks for the Kudos.
Nicely done, Q…
Cheers!
Thanks MD.
Brazil is in deep trouble: DW Monday
http://www.worldoil.com/news/2015/7/06/brazil-is-in-deep-trouble-dw-monday
LONDON (Douglas-Westwood) — Petrobras has long been a pioneer in the adoption and deployment of deepwater technology. This has enabled them to build huge reserves of some 16 Bbbl of oil. Converting these reserves to production, however, is another matter and Petrobras has a history of setting ambitious targets, with a poor record of meeting them.
The long delayed ‘2015-2019 Business and Management Plan’ released last week is a reflection of the new reality for Petrobras. With collapsed oil prices and unfavorable exchange rates, Petrobras has slashed their expenditure plans by 40% from the plans announced a year ago. Recognizing the upstream challenges, the company is now allocating 84% of its budget to E&P compared to 70% in the previous plan.
The biggest cut goes to their refining and supply sector, which has seen its budget reduced by 67% compared to last year’s plan.
Production decline from existing fields is a huge challenge with around 200,000 bopd of capacity eroded each year. Brazil’s huge deepwater potential remains constrained with Petrobras having to revise their production target for 2020, which now forecasts domestic oil output to increase to 2.8 MMbpd—40% lower than its projection 12 months ago. Douglas-
Westwood predicts that over the forecast period, Brazil will need to drill around 300 development wells in deep water, in order to sustain and reach its production target. However, of the 29 new rigs being built by the company, many are under threat from either funding problems or yards withdrawing from the contracts. Douglas-Westwood had already taken a conservative position on Brazil, and the cut in production target now brings in line Petrobras’ expectations and Douglas-Westwood’s ‘DW D&P’ forecast.
The scale and importance of Brazil in the overall offshore sector means that the impact of the latest spending revisions will be felt throughout the oilfield service industry supply-chain.
= = = = =
I’m sure that, at some price, they’d be willing to throw ridiculous amounts of money, effort and technology to try to get all that pre-salt oil. After all, oil companies and bankers don’t know jack shit about EROEI and they don’t care, either.
What about the Olympics? Are they in question?
It seems like every 4 years its a huge money losing venture, without fail?
brh
Hello CFN,
Nothing seems to polarize the conversation on CFN more than the state of the economy: on one side there are the investors who are still long stocks [*] and non-investors who are on the sidelines of the equity market for whatever reason. [**]
I’d like to say that although I am in the second category, I am not interested in trolling the investors. After all I was among their number several market crashes back. So that you can understand my intent better, here’s the brief story about why I went to the other side;
In December 1999 while wrapping up Xmas shopping I stopped at a Starbucks for a beverage – and chanced to strike up a conversation with a man who turned out to be a retired professional basketball player.
It turned out that he had other interest besides basketball, and so the conversation turned from life after living in the limelight to business – his, mine, etc. – to market conditions in general. It turned out that he had some rather disturbing things to say about the direction of the tech market.
Naturally I wanted him to walk me through his reasoning and establish some relevant bona fides – since my living was dependent on that era’s version of ‘FANG’ enterprises, and this was the last thing that I wanted to hear.
Eventually I just made him show me documentation, and he produced a business-card collection that held half of Goldman-Sach’s org-chart. Basically his insight was received, but he was smart enough to know *who* was smart enough to know what was going on and what was happening next. We exchanged contact information, shook hands and went our separate ways. [***]
Several months later at ‘zero-dark-thirty’ one sleepless morning, I got up, went up to the office, sat down and made a list of how I ‘knew’ what I knew, and who from… When that was done, and after making and bringing my first darling wife a ‘cuppa’ in bed (stakeholder management is important), I made some drastic last-minute changes to my portfolio.
One week later my neighbor across the street started a losing streak that he didn’t manage to pull out of before he’d lost $500k (a lot of money for him). He ended up having to liquidate one of his businesses. He was a good neighbor of ours and fantastic at a BBQ, so I wasn’t the least bit pleased to hear that.
The upshot was that I 1) lived to play another day, 2) I found time once a month to take the ex-pro-ball guy out for a fancy lunch and have a chat (and once float him some unsecured so that he could increase his property in Whistler before the announcement), and 3) completely rearranged my decision-making process where investment of anything was concerned.
— — —
[*] “long” = heavily invested in.
[**] the usual gaggle of kibitzers & bull-shitters, sprinkled with those who have sound reasons for investing elsewhere.
[***] He has what Machiavelli referred to as ‘2nd-Order’ intelligence – perfectly adequate for real-world decisions.
To the better/brighter denizens of CFN;
I’m sure you all came across this announcement from Schlumberger:
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/22/oil-services-giant-schlumberger-axes-10000-jobs-after-1bn-loss
Top Quote:
“The world’s largest oilfield services company Schlumberger has lost more than $1bn and cut a further 10,000 jobs. . . Like others in the industry, Schlumberger has been hard hit by the fall in energy prices and the downturn in the sector. It warned on Thursday that it does not expect a turnaround in the near future.”
I continue to be amused by the pretenders of CFN: people still arguing about the direction of the global Oil industry. If Schlumberger is calling it that’s as close to ‘the horses mouth’ as you’re going to get. They don’t admit a thing like that willingly. They do it to keep something ‘untoward’ from happening to them.
If you don’t understand what the flat-lining of this civilization’s foundational resource means, and how that is confirmed by dying Transportation, Retail and Manufacturing indicators, you don’t know anything about what enterprise conditions ARE. Please exit the conversation.
Furthermore, I’ve already heard, researched and rejected the modern-day ghost-dancer’s come-back to obvious visceral fact: they will say that ‘Technology’ is (or will soon) make the above tangible evidence from the market obsolete, and then they’ll point to businesses like Uber Inc. – as if Uber were creating something new from the ashes of the old, instead of harvesting the bones of old, grinding them up for fertilizer and charging a ‘Surge-Price’ premium for the ‘service’.
Whatever skin you have in the game, now is the time to review your situation. You better believe the smarter money out there is doing that very thing, *all *the *time.
Cheers!
The hand of vengeance of the Islamic world against the Saudi clan will rise from Yemen
Iranian animators have made a computer simulation of a missile strike against targets in Saudi Arabia from Yemen, including the oil fields. Such an action would be “a response to the hallucinations and empty threats of the Saudi clan,” according to the authors of the cartoon. “The hand of vengeance of the Islamic world will rise from Yemen”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0l7ODVK7l8
Could a little warning to Saudis, strengthened with something perhaps more tangible than just a cartoon, explain the sharp rise in oil prices on Friday?
” I saw a different Trump in that last debate.”
Yes, but then the same old Trump reveals himself again this week. I wonder if even “The Donald” can withstand the staining presence of “Moose Jaw Barbie” in his campaign?
Trump says he can shoot someone on 5th Ave. and not lose voters. He has already proved he can propose a ban on all Muslims and not lose voters. Compared to that, Palin pales.
The main problem of today world economy could be formulated in one sentence: “The world has many times more debt than money, and many times more money than the aggregate value of all tangible assets”.
One of the possible resolution is the destruction of all debts and the bankruptcy of their sources with reallocation of real assets and production facilities (the deflationary wave of the tsunami), and then in a counter motion destruction of excessive money supply and price inflation for real assets (the inflationary wave).
And where has this America gone?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWW6QeeVzDc
Oil and natural gas industry supports 9.8 million U.S. jobs and is 8 percent of the U.S. economy
Our growth as a global energy superpower has been a game-changer for U.S. energy security while making energy cheaper for American consumers,” said Hazem Arafa, director of American Petroleum Institute (API) statistics department. “We can’t expect that growth to continue if our own outdated energy polices stand in the way. Reducing unnecessary regulations and speeding up permitting on federal lands will help U.S. producers to compete effectively in the global market under the low-price environment.
http://www.api.org/News-and-Media/News/NewsItems/2016/Jan-2016/API-Oil-and-natural-gas-drilling-down-by-half-in-fourth-quarter-2015
Can President Obama or his successor roll back the “energy renaissance”, leaving the street almost 10 million voters? On the contrary, by 2020 the US plans to reach the level of production of 10.6 million barrels per day.
More and more it’s looking like Chris Christie will be the Republican nominee.
Nominee for what? Dog catcher? Christie has lost the big mo’ in New Hampshire, Q. In five out of the past six polls conducted in NH, Christie hasn’t broken double digits. If he can’t find a way to restart his campaign in NH, Christie has no chance of surviving beyond Feb. 9, when New Hampshire votes.
Rachel Maddow took Christie down by reporting on Christie’s “time for some traffic in Fort Lee” petty revenge against a democratic mayor. Christie hasn’t had a chance since Maddow’s reporting. Not to mention Christie still may be named in the Bridgegate case as it works its way toward a trial date later in 2016. Defendants Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly will begin the new year by learning who the government claims helped them cause mayhem in Fort Lee.
In court papers filed by attorneys for Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said federal prosecutors turned over a list of “unindicted co-conspirators” to the defense in the first week of January.
I’m thinking Christie still isn’t in the clear legally from federal criminal charges, which does not help his chances to be nominee for anything.
Mr Darling, w.r.t the Schlumberger report in the Guardian and your comments that this reflects the economic facts of various other sectors of the economy:
I’ve long maintained and commented on the unworkability of present day world trade and consumption arrangements. That the unworkability would manifest itself in various economic spheres as well as in a succession of financial crises surprises me not in the slightest. That it would also engulf the oil industry surprises me even less. So, as you say, we have the flat-lining of a foundational resource.
There’s a lot of factors driving the price of a barrel. Consider the geo-politics of oil. Consider Middle Eastern sectarian rivalries. Consider that oil is the only game for a number of major producers with major national problems ie aridity, overpopulation, corruption. Consider the Fed’s and Wall Street’s malign influence on price discovery. Consider also the ransacking of the world economy by the oligarch class.
But I think you’re right that, in the end, demand for oil as reflected in day-to-day consumption has to drive prices. In the end that’s what it all comes down to. So, the oligarchs ruin the mass consumption market and so, after all is said and done, deflating demand and deflating prices is what we would reasonably expect.
But, apparently, and as the history of wild swings in prices shows, not before politicians, financiers and murderers all have a go at distorting markets while they’re carving out a piece of the action for themselves.
“we have the flat-lining of a foundational resource” –Volodya
Say what? Do you know what flatlining means: DEAD! The oil industry is nowhere near death. It isn’t even sick. Hyperbole much.
We went to two bowling alleys today. Both were packed with 45 minute wait times for a lane. Hint: bowling alleys are not frequented by the 1%.
The middle class and the lower class have money to burn on bowling on the weekend. But wait! I thought the economy was in dire straits, people were maxed out on their credit cards, in debt, unemployed.
What are they doing enjoying bowling on the weekend? Don’t they know the economy has “flatlined”? Don’t trust Mr. Darling. Trust your own eyes. People are driving. People are taking vacations. The Mall parking lots are full. Demand has not “flatlined.”
What? They didn’t spend all their money on Christmas? No, the economic collapse preached on CFN is bogus, just as is the “flatlining” of the oil industry.
Some people need to learn that a tactical business decision, in order to return to fight in the future, is not the death of an industry. Statistics like the Baltic Dry Index do not tell the rest of the story.
You can believe flatlining has happened when supplies are not moving, when the military grinds to a halt for lack of fossil fuels. Ain’t happened. Ain’t happening. Ain’t gonna happen. Chill, y’all.
Hello Volodya,
RE | “There’s a lot of factors driving the price of a barrel.”-v.
The factors you mention are all relevant, and they all play a role in determining shorter-term fluctuations in price. But the factor that drives them in turn is artificial scarcity, and *that* in turn is driven by gross mismanagement.
As I’ve mentioned before, the Western Roman Empire didn’t fall apart because it ran out of people to enslave and animals to harness. It fell because a fatal decision was made at the top that killed their imperial enterprise, and every subsequent decision only made it worse. This was a response completely in line with the fall of every other great civilization. Jared Diamond wrote perceptively about it in Guns, Germs & Steel, and Stephen Hawking has alluded to it.
Civilizations – just like the constituents – can remove safeguards and fuck-up irrevocably. For instance; if you want to play Russian Roulette and you spin the cylinder a time too many, there’s not a lot I can do for you, buddy-boy!
Any last wishes?
😉
Hello CFN;
It may be true that some CFN-ers are here to “scare” themselves; basically “ticking way the moments that make up a dull day”.
OTOH, some of us are coping with CFN as it is and using it as a resource, a place to have productive conversations, time-effectively glean something useful & occasionally spur collaboration in the real-world… To treat it like a ‘virtual work-group’ in other words.
As we get older we find ourselves playing a less direct and active role in the world’s affairs. Under the conditions that pertained that involved finding ways to stay busy and ‘relevant’ in some way.
Going forward it looks increasing likely that we won’t have as many opportunities to get bored (like it or not). It is already the case that many wannabe-retirees cannot – simply because economic conditions don’t allow that to happen. Expect more of that, with less material support and physical security as you progress down the road of you life.
The older/outbound generation does have one vital role to play as things come apart: to stand as the visceral and personal connection to all the good things that were and could have been (under better management). To transmit hands-on skills to the next generation, and to provide some sense of what civilization IS, not just what is HAS. To do that effectively and with as few missteps as possible, you’re going to need a little reference material.
With that in mind, I’ve created a short, interesting, possibly essential bibliography. This is information that I’ve already seen to work and have used in the faltering resource hinterland of this civilization. I’m only presenting this as an example. Certainly you will feel free to add/subtract what you consider vital.
Primary Reference List – Presented in order of likely necessity:
1. Where There Is No Doctor: a village health care handbook, David Werner
2. Gardening When It Counts, Steve Solomon
3. Pocket Ref, Thomas J. Glover
4. The Knowledge: How To Rebuild Civilization In the Aftermath Of A Cataclysm, Lewis Dartnell
Supplemental Reading – these are techniques and technologies that are very appropriate in desperate situations. They can also be used as work-arounds for longer-term threats:
Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, Joshua Piven & Borgenicht
Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Travel; ” & ”
The SAS Survival Handbook, John Wiseman
100 Deadly Skills: The SEAL Operative’s Survival Guide, Clint Emerson
Just to be clear: I do not a “cataclysm” to suddenly befall us. I do however see utility having detailed and deep background information about the guts of our life, past-present and future.
EDIT: “I do not__expect__ a cataclysm…”
“I do not__expect__ a cataclysm…” –Mr. Darling
On this we agree. No apocalypse. No need for alarm. Demand is decreasing rationally, voluntarily, as result of a rational BIG GOVERNMENT plan… and the economy is doing great. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the first Federal Reserve rate hike in a decade was entirely appropriate given the improving U.S. economy. Having a woman, Yellen, at the helm is paying dividends. Having a physicist running DOE is paying dividends.
The U.S. federal government, with thousands of facilities and vehicles in locations across the United States and abroad, is one of the largest energy consumers in the world, but that consumption is declining. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) shows total delivered-to-site energy use by the federal government fell to 0.96 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) in fiscal year (FY) 2013, the lowest recorded since 1975, the earliest year for which data are available.
Your survivalist bibliography is not necessary.
The year is 2023. Wpa and MD are on work break. They each have a rag covering their nose and mouth. World population is under 800 million and still falling. Wpa says “cut the melodrama MD, the world has survived these periodic die-offs before”
Q., there is an average of one mass extinction every 100 million years and the last one was 65 million years ago.
So, we have another 35 million years of cornucopia to go. Neither MD nor wpa-ccc will be around for the next extinction, nor would a puny bibliography of prepper propaganda be of any help in 35 million years.
Get with the geologic timeline, Q.
Suggested addition:
5. Brain surgery without benefit of qualified physician or anesthesia, Q. Shtik
6. Removal of an aching tooth with a set of pliers, Finca
Been there, done that. Post-collapse will be a breeze. But first we need the collapse… and it’s a looooooong time coming. Decades.
But first we need the collapse… and it’s a looooooong time coming. ^MILLENIA^
Football talk:
Commentator #1:
Blah blah blah, blahblah BLAH blah……….umm blah blah.
Commentator #2 (Phil Simms):
No question. Blah blah blah Paytn Manneen blah BLAH blah scored on first drahv.
Use the mute button, combined with the cc button for closed captions. Eliminates 100% of vocal fry and uptalk.
A. Brodsky. In defense of President George Bush Sr.
It’s disgusting to read, how the Russian media shed tears over the fate of Saddam Hussein.
For a start it was Saddam Hussein who played a very significant role in the fact that privatization in Russia had acquired such a terrible direction and tens of millions of my countrymen have perished in the collapse of the economy. And President Bush if perhaps not quite consciously, but still took a revenge for their miserable fate.
Indeed, it was Saddam Hussein’s aggression against Kuwait that forced US troops into Saudi Arabia and forced them to increase oil production by tens of percent, in particular because of concerns that the conflict would be protracted.
And shortly before that Saddam Hussein (as well as Qaddafi) spat in the face of the Soviet Union, which supported him for many years, and connected with the political groups in the United States, Europe and Moscow (sic!), which then not only made up a roadmap for the collapse of the Soviet Union, but also began to calculate how many millions of people was needed to service the oil pipe and how many millions are simply redundant.
And Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait with the support of those groups, knowing what role he would play in these plans, as well as the fact that the President of the USA George Bush Sr., did not approve of those plans. And in reality, he played a very different role and became the first victim of his own betrayal.
And when the vaunted Republican Guard of Saddam Hussein was defeated just in a few days, and oil production in Saudi Arabia increased significantly, that’s when the price of oil fell, so that Russia began exporting it at a loss, as the price of a barrel of oil was lower than the average cost of its production.
Of course the price of Russian oil fields had fallen to a negative value, which allowed counterparties of Saddam Hussein, who have pushed him on this adventure, to buy them for pennies on the dollar and during the crucial phase of privatization the Russian state was out money for the police, the army and the establishment of a modern banking system.
Moreover, with no money to pay salaries, which in fact paved the way for the collapse of the ruble, the combustion of savings in Sberbank, and mass impoverishment.
Senior Bush administration was well aware that it was a recipe for Treaty of Versailles 2.0, not the Marshall Plan. And he very much liked to direct events in a different direction, from purely pragmatic reasons, knowing that the result of the Treaty of Versailles 2.0 for the West would be the same as first time around.
By the way, all these accusations of Putin in the similarity with Hitler are connected with the fact that in planned events in the distant 1991, Hitler 2.0 was who they were waiting for.
Now guess from three attempts what plan Clintons had about Russia in 1992 and how they proved to elites that fears of the former director of the CIA were baseless, seeking power in 1990-1992. And ask yourself, how they relate to the diplomats who gave Saddam Hussein wrong impression that the United States would look the other way when Iraq occupies Kuwait.
Perhaps reading of that short essay by Mr.Brodsky would clarify for CFNers why D. Orlov is not among my favorite authors.
NFL medical researchers have concluded that 73% of player brain trauma is attributable to bumping helmets, smacking their teamates’ heads and other forms of inane hot-dogging/celebration after successful pass completions, TDs, interceptions and tackles.
New England stopped cold by Denver defense.
The cheap oil leads to a stop in technological progress in the energy sector, as cutting-edge energy technologies become uncompetitive compared to a conventional oil furnace. Meanwhile, today the cost of energy for electric vehicles, as well as start-up costs for the installation of solar panels is approximately comparable to the cost of electricity produced by conventional oil at $120/barrel.
But for all of these technologies rare earth metals are required, the largest deposits of which are in China, whose decision to provide their companies priority access to these resources is an immediate threat to US dominance in the world.
In the last 30 years, the US position in the world has significantly deteriorated. In particular the military power of Russia with its modernized nuclear arsenal possibly superior to the military power of the United States, even more than military might of the USSR was superior to the military power of the United States in the mid-’70s, but then China was opposed to the Soviet Union, and now it is a threat primarily to USA.
Meanwhile, the aforementioned policy of trade with rare earth metals in the long term makes the US uncompetitive in key industries, today blocking the inflow of venture capital into R&D in the US in this area, as China’s policy making them hopeless and puts a very big question mark next to the position of the US in the post-crisis world.
Trump is not an islamophob and wants to discriminate Muslims, not because they are Muslims, but because they do not report to the authorities terrorists groups and the Sunni coalition he needs so far as it is beneficial to the United States, and if because of the Sunnis, who in 2001 bombed New York and Washington, it is necessary not only to spoil relations with a nuclear superpower, but also to fight in their place, then why is it necessary?
Moreover, he is not a Russian patriot and wants to make friends with Putin not because he loves the president of Russia, but because in his view it is beneficial to the US, and if Russia together with Assad will crush ISIS, then thank Allah for that.
There you have it, Gents.
Hyenas!
both spotted and striped, and hungry as hell!
Out there in the gathering darkness, patiently circling, prowling, looking for a weak spot, poised to move in for the kill.
Whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop
that’s about where we’re at, here in this Day of the Hyena.
brh
Meanwhile, I’m trying to figure out how Bernie Sander’s plan for free tuition at all state colleges and universities is going to work. For example, the president of our State U, UCONN, Susan Herbst, pulls down 850 Gs per year, has two mansions fully appointed, one in Storrs and one in Hartford, a limo with a chauffer, and a security staff. She is in effect Queen of Connecticut, our own Marie Antoinette. Our job as plebes is to work hard enough and pay enough taxes to keep this women living in the manner to which she has grown accustomed. Then there is the matter of the hundreds of University retirees who get pensions that total $240,000 per year. UCONN men’s and women’s basketball coaches each make more than $5 million annually! Question, will these people still have to be paid, now that everything is free? Electric bills, water bills, maintenance, salaries, all free? It doesn’t make a lot of sense when you think about it. Perhaps Sanders supporters here can explain how this will go down. Buck? WPA?
Reports say Hyenas running amok thru the UCONN campus, causing havoc and raising the level of fear not seen since the last ‘micro aggression’ crisis in the fall semester.
brh
“UCONN men’s and women’s basketball coaches each make more than $5 million annually!” –brh
$5 million each! False!
brh, everytime you post the UCONN diatribe the salaries get larger… and completely false!
UConn’s men’s basketball coach Kevin Ollie won the championship a year ago and then signed a new contract. Ollie’s now getting $2.8 million. (April 2015)
UConn’s Geno Auriemma, who will earn $2.06 million this year, the second year of a five-year contract, is also the most successful coach currently in women’s basketball. Auriemma’s pay is slated to rise to $2.4 million by the 2017-18 school year, the final year of his contract. (April 2015)
Not false.
The pay you site is what comes from the State Treasury, about 1/2 the total salary of these two men. the UConn Foundation more than doubles the state payout, making total compensation well over $5 million for both.
When Sanders becomes Pres., will they have to work for free?
brh
Collapse of Islamist rebels in Latakia
Units of the Syrian army entered Rabia, a town in Latakia, where the headquarters of the 1st Coastal Division of Free Syrian Army.
1st Coastal Division is a group supported by Turkey and the United States. It is allowed the delivery of TOW missiles.
According to various versions, Rabia is either taken, or fighting is inside the city.
Taken Jabal Maran, Ablaki, Turus.
http://postskriptum.org/2016/01/24/latakia-48/
Yakov Kedmi, a former head of Israeli intelligence agency “Nativ”, is pissed of big time regarding the visit of Ukrainian President Poroshenko to Israel and his speech in Knesset.
“We will never forgive Bandera and the Ukrainian murderers of Jewish people who are being portrait as heroes in modern Ukraine”
The following video is in Russian, unfortunately without English subtitles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIAG1xsLQp8
BRH and wpa,
Coach Greg Schiano’s salary/comp was $2,250,000 in 2011…highest-paid public employee in NJ “by far”‘ and highest paid in the Big East.
IMO his star really began to rise due to the exploits of Ray Rice for a couple of years.
He went on to be head coach of Tampa Bucs but got canned and now is a defensive coordinator with Ohio State.
Under Bernie’s wet dream plan of free tuition at State/public schools I can only imagine the battles over these sports budgets…….. not to mention, every other citizen of my home town is associated with Rutgers at fairly high pay.
OK, I exaggerate, maybe every 3rd citizen.
The system of free tuition should be accompanied by vigorous selection process based on objective measure of student progress, his/her knowledge of theory and ability to apply that theory to solving practical problems – NOT based on multiple choice selection tasks.
Best performing students may be even rewarded by stipends, in the amount up to 35% of future earnings as a professional in his/her selected field.
That how I got my education – an equivalent of US M.S. in applied math and it proved to be more than competitive with my colleges in the US.
It was 10 years in school and 5 years in university. 8 years of school was mandatory in the USSR, followed either by 2 years of high school or 2 to 4 years of professional school.
Rutgers women’s B-ball coach, V. Stringer, has salary and bonus arrangement that will almost certainly earn her way over $1 million.
Late in the week for comments I know, Athletes are WAY over compensated for playing a GAME. I could throw a fifty yard missile when I was 20 years old. Alas, I never went to college. I watched the last two minutes of the game. I don’t have time for that shit.I went to the school of knowledge. Welding, woodworking, gerdening, mechanics, guns, motorcycles, and medicine/FF. Call me if you need a HUMAN BEING. Stelmosfire@@@@@@Handyman
Trump says he can shoot someone on 5th Ave. and not lose voters. He has already proved he can propose a ban on all Muslims and not lose voters.
nice try, but he said he wants a temporary ban on muslim immigration until the US figures out – as if obama’s sycophants don’t already know – who’s being let in.
you know he called for a temporary ban
but purposely lie about it
does it scare you that Trump uses a gun analogy?
oh my
MisterDarling,
Thanks for the bibliography of practical skills and suggestions. To my mind, all quite reasonable and helpful in getting both psychologically and physically prepared. (It’s a Boy Scout thing; cornucopians aren’t *interested* because it involves *doing* as opposed to *staring while bystanding*.) I noticed a pile of thought-stoppers immediately following, as expected and predicted. In the very first blurting, it was implied that no preparation is necessary. What is the further implication? To me, it’s: Do Nothing & Know Nothing; Large Programs are in place to care for your Every Need. This implication is patently stupid; ignorance can easily be fatal.
As to this:
“The older/outbound generation does have one vital role to play as things come apart: to stand as the visceral and personal connection to all the good things that were and could have been (under better management). To transmit hands-on skills to the next generation, and to provide some sense of what civilization IS, not just what is HAS. To do that effectively and with as few missteps as possible, you’re going to need a little reference material.” — MD
I emphatically agree, and as families once again come together for security and mutual support, this will become a more obvious practicality/necessity. Likewise to communities that decide that there will be little outside help forthcoming. (What outside forces will be forthcoming will be of the oppressive and extractive nature; it’s all they now know how to organize. New Orleans was an object lesson; those who saw it as an *anomalous* clusterfuck are those that are the uninformed, bystanding do-nothings. This is how the Beast reacts when asked to “help”.)
Good Fortune going forward; your input is appreciated by the aware.
“New Orleans was an object lesson; those who saw it as an *anomalous* clusterfuck are those that are the uninformed, bystanding do-nothings.” == ozone
I could arrange a milker position for you for 6,000 pesos a month with dirt-floor living arrangements so you could find out how prepped up are you and tuned to the fact that rice is not just a side dish.
” 6,000 pesos a month ”
As the “Ugly American” was said to have asked…”How much is that in REAL money?”.
One very large trouble with that, Finca:
It would require my living in what I consider a shithole of a country (The Dominican Republic, cheek-by-jowl with the shithole, Haiti).
You obviously considered the move there to be a way to gain unfair advantage over the natives, as you have offered me a position where you take unfair advantage of *my* labors in the same style. I have
…doubts about a long-term continuation of your experiment in extractive capitalism.
Donald Trump’s event for veterans is now taking place at Drake University, my old school. Except it’s not for veterans, it’s for militarism.
There’s a difference. The chants of USA . . .USA are sounding more and more like Sieg heil!
These fools, including Mike Huckabee, are telling the crowd that we owe everything we have to our wars. The big lie. Iraq and Viet Nam destroyed millions of people, mostly non-Americans, and dragged us closer to Hell.
BRH writes:
“Meanwhile, I’m trying to figure out how Bernie Sander’s plan for free tuition at all state colleges and universities is going to work. For example, the president of our State U, UCONN, Susan Herbst, pulls down 850 Gs per year, has two mansions fully appointed, one in Storrs and one in Hartford, a limo with a chauffer, and a security staff. She is in effect Queen of Connecticut, our own Marie Antoinette. Our job as plebes is to work hard enough and pay enough taxes to keep this women living in the manner to which she has grown accustomed. Then there is the matter of the hundreds of University retirees who get pensions that total $240,000 per year. UCONN men’s and women’s basketball coaches each make more than $5 million annually! Question, will these people still have to be paid, now that everything is free? Electric bills, water bills, maintenance, salaries, all free? It doesn’t make a lot of sense when you think about it. Perhaps Sanders supporters here can explain how this will go down. Buck? WPA?”
That’s actually a very good question which WPA dodged upthread, But first things first BRH.
First of all, one is not supposed to ask those question of Bernie if a Democrat. (Even though Bernie is actually an independent who ‘joined ranks’ in order to take advantage of Dem Party infrastructure.) Moreover, if one does ask those questions they are termed, an ‘oligarch sympathizer’, part of the establishment’ a spoke on third wheel or a DINO’. In other words, one does not ask specific questions of St. Bernie.
But you’re a not a Dem you and do not yet know these things. And since the highlight of Bernie’s campaign is tonight, we won’t have to actually worry much about Bernie in the White House.
But again, great question. Unfortunately the lunatics following Sanders off the cliff are not the least bit interested in reality.